My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device
by Solomon-Grundy
Summary: Jenny explores her developing sexuality, which leads to romantic entanglements with Brad, Sheldon, and the other leading men in XJ9's life.
1. chapter 1

My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 1**_

Jenny sighed happily, eyes closed, basking in the warmth tingling through her metallic skin. Sensations like this were still new to Jenny, and as a result she had a tendency to become lost in them. Sometimes she thought there would be nothing more pleasant then to just stretch out on a clear day and enjoy the breeze brushing past her face and the sun's rays glinting off her body.

"Okay, I'm all set, let's go!" said Brad enthusiastically, closing the front door of his house behind him and waking Jenny from her daydream. The two friends walked quickly towards school, both eager to begin the new school year. It had been a whole summer since they had seen many of their friends, and plus there was the added excitement of finding out what teachers they had, who was in all their classes, and all the other hubbub of the new semester. Brad and Jenny talked excitedly as they walked, catching up on their adventures from the summer. "So is summer camp as fun as it looks?" inquired Jenny.

"It was a blast," replied Brad. "There were tons of sports and swimming and ghost stories and camping and... fun! I can hardly wait to go back next summer. Then I'll be old enough to work as a counselor there."

"Wow, I'm so jealous," Jenny said with a hint of dejection. "I was stuck here in Tremorton all summer. Well, except for trips for superhero stuff, but that's not really the same."

"The best part was the times the guys and me sneaked across the lake to go visit the girls' camp." Brad grinned.

Jenny looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Why were you in separate camps? They kept the girls on the other side of the lake?"

"Ahhh..." Brad stalled. "What did you do over the summer? I'll bet I missed some awesome superhero-fights, right?"

Jenny nodded "Here and there... mostly Cluster attacks, plus the return of Himculese. Most of the big stuff was over in Japan, actually." Jenny clutched her knapsack tighter, fidgeting. "To be honest it was pretty quiet, compared to the norm. Maybe super-villains don't like the heat."

"Oh. So then, how did you spend your free time?" asked Brad, "Helping your mom with scientist stuff?"

"No, I didn't see a lot of mom actually. I mean, I got my annual upgrade and I'd see her around the house and all, but she spends a lot of time over at Sheldon's place now. You see, the school got Sheldon a co-op student placement summer job, and it ended up being as my mom's assistant. So now they're working on something in his garage."

"Any idea what it is?" asked Brad, curious.

"Nope. Mom says I'm not allowed, whenever I'm around Sheldon gets distracted and can't work. Which is a relief for me anyway. I'd rather not spend my day listening to stories about comic book characters and trying not to think about the shrine in his closet." Jenny had a shudder pass through her, finding Sheldon's attention to her far more creepy then flattering.

Brad flashed his usual knowing smile, well practiced to present the illusion that he knew much more about a situation then he let on. "That boy sure has it bad for you," he stated, as if it was a profound insight. Jenny frowned and didn't reply, letting the subject drop. Brightening, she decided to change the subject. "You didn't ask me about my upgrade yet!"

Brad smiled, "Oh yeah! So out with it then. What'd you get? Is it X-ray vision? 'Cause that'd be so cool..." Brad made little circles with his thumbs and index fingers, wearing them on his face in a pantomime of goggles.

"No no... remember those faulty touch receptors I tried on last year? Well mom finally finished and installed them! You can't see them now because they're attached just under my external casing, but they're there. I'm still working my way through all the sensations: so far I've tried hot, cold, wind, soft, wet, fuzzy, sharp, itch, sticky, rough, and electrical shock. It's been fun finding new combinations all the time: for example, getting my morning wax & buff is a _whole_ different experience..." Jenny's eyes half closed dreamily as she grinned at the memory.

Brad cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh yeah? So does... tickle still work?" Before she could answer Brad launched a tickling attack, squirming his fingers rapidly over Jenny's exposed midriff and making the robotic girl shriek.

Laughing hard and feebly trying to push Brad away, Jenny pleaded, "Yes, yes, it works! It works! Hahahahaha, please stop, hahaha!" Jenny fell off the sidewalk and onto the grass, clutching her sides to protect them from Brad's assault. When she had calmed down Brad stepped closer and extended his hand to help her up. "Oh, and now I'm supposed to trust you to be gentlemanly?" quipped Jenny, even as she took his hand and was helped to her feet.

Standing, Jenny waited for Brad to respond with a joke and was surprised when none came. She looked up into Brad's eyes and found her own voice momentarily gone, confused by a completely new facial expression on Brad that she didn't recognize. She searched his features for some clue until Brad, startled, looked away, a hint of red in his cheeks.

"Ah, Jenny...?" Jenny tilted her head to one side slightly, questioningly. "You can let go of my hand now."

Coming to her senses, Jenny quickly released her grip on Brad's hand and pulled her arm back against her chest, holding it with her other hand. "Aheheheh..." Jenny stammered. "Another new sensation," she lied, covering her embarrassment. Brad replied with a quick nod, starting towards school again in an attempt to overcome the awkward moment. Jenny did a quick check of her internal clocks: the whole exchange had only lasted 2.4 seconds, so why had it felt like so much longer?

As Tremorton high came into view, Brad made one last ditch effort for a normal conversation with his friend. "So, you never did tell me how you spent your time during the summer?" Jenny thought for a moment, rummaging through her memory files and totaling up how many hours she spent at various activities.

There were internal and external systems checks performed in front of her mirror to make sure she maintained a fighting-trim physique; there were hours spent ingesting cans of motor oil while stretched out in front of the television, then more hours in the chemical shower washing the dirty bits of oil that collected in her joints as her system worked the lubricant through her body over the course of a day. There were afternoons she had passed playing silly games with Tuck, and there were a few disastrous attempts at mingling with the teenagers who were hanging out at the beach. She remembered being extremely proud of her attempt to reshape her blue skirt and top into a blue metallic two piece bikini – she actually thought she looked quite attractive in it. Unfortunately she wasn't nearly as buoyant as the other swimmers, and her bikini-design had allowed grains of sand to work their way into portions of her anatomy that were normally kept hermetically sealed. In the end it had been a discouraging, and rather uncomfortable experience.

But, when all her summer hours had been tallied up, one activity occupied the bulk of her free time: locking herself in her room and poring over a messy stack of teen magazines and cutouts of her favorite crushes. What could she say? Jenny had entered a phase where she could easily be called "boy crazy." Her earliest saves were hunky male models from her fashion magazines and sensitive-looking actors from the most popular "chick-flicks." Her favorite was a Latino character actor "Sancho" who had starred in action films early in his career then made a move to passionate romance films. Then, about the same time she began attending high school, the majority of the clippings switched over to pictures of Don Prima, the resident popular, snobby and attractive rich boy. Even though she knew he had plenty of bad qualities, Jenny had still been nuts over Don... she still was, really. If he had asked her out today she would have said yes.

But Don was no longer her sole interest: recently, a new robotic superhero had moved in to Tremorton and set up shop. His name was the Silver Shell, and from the moment Jenny laid eyes on him she had felt like she was walking on air – sometimes literally, when her flight systems kicked in accidentally. Jenny knew she should've been at least mildly displeased that another superhero was horning in on her "turf," as there was a certain point of pride about a superhero being competent enough to keep her home city safe, but Jenny didn't really care in the slightest. She was simply thrilled to have a cute robot boy in town who, as far as Jenny could tell, was single. He hadn't responded to Jenny's advances yet, but Jenny knew it was only a matter of time. After all, it's not like there were any other robot girls in the area, and Jenny hadn't picked up even a blip on her internal gaydar.

Jenny had never attempted to track Silver Shell to his home base, she felt little need. Fate seemed to have a way of making their paths cross again and again, and in the meantime Jenny had started a sizable collection of newspaper clippings from each public appearance SS made. This is how most of her summer had been spent; lying prone on her bed or reclining in her beanbag chair with clippings of Silver Shell spread out all around her as she ogled the smooth curves of his chassis and the shapes of the bulging servos hidden just under his armored outer skin.

Often Jenny liked to lay back and turn her dream chip on to it's lowest setting, crafting a customized fantasy about her crush. Most often it started with her surrounded by a horde of Cluster warriors, fighting a losing battle. Then, out of the mist the Silver Shell would arrive, often riding the mechanical bull that he'd been wrestling when she had first met him. He would charge in, knocking Cluster flunkies aside, then side by side the two of them would defeat their enemies and save the day. SS would then turn and embrace her, and the two would share a passionate robotic kiss. "You have the most beautiful optics," he would say, followed by "You must've been assembled in heaven," or sometimes "Was your designer an artist?"

Whatever sweet nothings Jenny could imagine at the time.

Over the course of the summer her fantasies had grown more and more elaborate. At first she altered it so that Silver Shell's torso armoring would be damaged during the fight, and afterwards Jenny would remove it to check for internal damage, stripping his upper half down to bare external casing. Next she altered her fantasy to imagine groping his rear while they kissed, her hands gently squeezing his cute little bumper to her heart's content. In her most recent edit she had him returning the favor, sneaking the back of her skirt up and placing his hands around her upper thighs, then stroking his way inward, moving between her legs...

Jenny's eyes snapped wide open as she realized that Brad was still waiting for her answer. She had slowed down her memory playback to the point where she was moving through her fantasy sequence in real time, and had spent the last 45 seconds or so in a daydream. "Reading." she blurted out, scrambling for something to say, "I spent most of my time reading... literature. And history."

Brad gave her a confused and slightly annoyed look, then pushed open the school's front door. "Whatever," he said dismissively. "I'll see you in third period math!" he added before running off down a hallway and heading for homeroom. Jenny glanced up at a wall clock and saw she had a minute and a half before she would be late. "_Perfect, just enough time_," she thought to herself, ducking into the girls' washroom and finding an empty stall.

Jenny took a seat on the toilet lid and hiked up her skirt around her hips, already spotting a trickle of fluid slowly making it's way down her inner thigh. "_I was afraid of this,_" she thought in frustration, grabbing a handful of toilet paper and mopping up the leak. "_Every time I start to think about touching Silver Shell, I start leaking this... fluid!_" Jenny dragged the wad of toilet paper up across her thigh back to the source of the leak, where it was dripping from the side of her Traffic Halting and Odor Neutralizing Garment. Releasing the catches on either side of the garment, Jenny pulled away the front panel, stretching out a slimy strand of the viscous fluid from the soiled T.H.O.N.G. to her waste elimination port, which was sluggishly pumping out the clear liquid. Gathering up more tissue Jenny mopped up the mess, cleaning her garment as best as she could and stemming the flow from her body. "Come on, just think of anything **but** Silver Shell!" she told herself, fighting back the flow with her force of will. "Think about school, busting meteors, saving people, Bradley... err, better not think about Brad." Finally the fluid seemed to dry up and Jenny tossed the damp wad of tissue paper into the toilet.

Jenny stood up and reattached the front half of her undergarment, wincing "Ewwwwww..." as she felt the damp device snap shut against her body. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have the nerves installed," she joked bitterly to herself. Straightening her skirt she made sure everything looked presentable. On her way to class Jenny tried her best not to show her embarrassment. She hadn't even told her mother and creator, Mrs. Wakeman, about any of this. On top of the shame of having somehow damaged her waste port, arguably her most private of functions, she would also have to own up to having a daydream about fondling a boy as the cause behind the malfunction! Or at least, Jenny could only assume it was a result of her daydreams, since the two seemed connected. A new thought entered her mind now: had she damaged her port somehow, perhaps while changing her undergarment? Or washing herself? What if a shard of corroded metal had gotten lodged up there, and she was rusting internally at this very moment?!

"_Get a grip girl. You can investigate this more when you get home._" Steeling herself, Jenny pressed on into her first class of the day. The first thing her eyes fell upon was what she had dreaded most: the majority of the students in the class were bunched up in one corner of the class, hovering around Brittany and Tiffany Crust, laughing and smiling and fascinated by their every word. Jenny groaned, knowing this was going to be a difficult way to start the year. Still though, if she didn't make some friends now she'd be a loner in this class the whole semester, so Jenny approached the crowd and attempted to join the conversation.


	2. chapter 2

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

Chapter 2

"Whoo, almost finished!" Sheldon sighed while wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He loved tinkering with robotics, but it could be hot work sometimes, especially in his poorly ventilated garage... _ahem_, workshop. Tightening his grip on his screwdriver, Sheldon carefully reattached the faceplate of his greatest creation ever, the Silver Shell. Its face looked back at him expressionlessly, little more then an overly sophisticated statue at the moment. But that would soon change.

"Excellent work Sheldon!" praised Sheldon's new mentor, Mrs. Nora Wakeman. "Those punks at the robotics expo won't stand a chance against SS here. The scholarship is as good as yours." She climbed up the ladder to join Sheldon on the scaffolding behind their project and handed him a small black electronic component that was about the size and shape of a deck of cards trailing numerous wires out the edges. With great care, Sheldon pried open the back of Silver Shell's head and inserted the component, attaching all the wires to the necessary parts of Silver Shell's motor control portion of his electronic brain.

"A shame, really, that a fully self-aware personality couldn't be programmed in time," mused Mrs. Wakeman. "But you can't rush something like that. And this remote control chip should serve just as well. Well enough to stomp the competition, at least." Sheldon grinned at the thought. "Can you imagine if he was sentient? With all the modifications we made, Shellhead here could probably even give Jenny a run for her money." Sheldon mentally ran through a short list of the improvements Mrs. Wakeman had helped him make: increased strength, an arsenal of close combat weapons and tools, high-powered lasers connected to the eye sockets, and a much expanded fuel supply. She had even let him install a prototype of a personal force field generator that she had been working on, though that one still had some bugs in it. They were unable to install a compliment of missiles like XJ9 was equipped with, mostly because of regulations of the robotics expo competition, but it hardly mattered. Silver Shell would be fighting other garage constructed robots, not space invaders.

"Speaking of Jenny; have you decided how to let her know? She's going to find out when she sees her biggest crush competing at the expo." Sheldon winced slightly, slouching over. "I've tried to tell her, really... it just never seems like the right time. She's always racing off to blast a meteor or she's down about her lack of popularity at school. I just need to find the perfect moment."

Mrs. Wakeman gave her best stern-mother frown. "Come now Sheldon, you've had all summer to pick your moment. Sooner or later you're just going to have to straighten your spine, take a deep breath, and tell her the truth about Silver Shell." She began climbing down the stepladder while continuing her lecture. "She'll probably even be relieved. Now she'll know the reasons behind Shell's odd behavior around her."

"Yeahhh... yeah you're right." Gaining confidence, Sheldon spoke with more volume, "Enough's enough. I'll tell her today when she gets out of school."

Mrs. Wakeman smiled proudly "Glad to hear it."

* * *

Jenny Wakeman was disgruntled, uncomfortable, and feeling vulnerable. Which is exactly how Brit Crust, fashion diva and lead snob of all Tremorton High, wanted things. The first day of school was mostly a formality: the teachers assigned seating arrangements, took roll call and sorted out the students who were in the wrong classes, and announced their syllabus for the coming semester. Which left the students plenty of time to get reacquainted and share their stories of the summer. For the last twenty minutes Brit had the rest of the girls eating out of the palm of her hand with a vivid retelling of how she and her cousin Tiff had been picked up by various "hotties" and "studs" over the summer during their high-octane tour of all the coolest bars, dance clubs, lounges, and discotheques. They weren't quite old enough yet, but a fake I.D. and recently developed figures could work wonders, not to mention what flashing a bit of cash added. Their hangers-on listened in rapt fascination as Brit exaggerated her stories, making them gasp when she revealed a juicy detail, then left them wanting more when she left the best parts of the story purposely vague. If nothing else could be said for Brittany Crust, she was an expert at manipulating an audience.

And now her favorite nemesis had arrived. Perfect. Yet another opportunity to assert her dominance of the school's social ladder by reminding the lowest rung of why she's there. "Hello there Jennifer," Brit began icily. "Did you have a good summer? Tiff and I were just discussing all the fun we had." She left a knowing pause before adding, "...becoming women. Though I suppose we should change the topic now that you're here, don't you think Tiff? This isn't a conversation for young, sensitive ears like Jenny's."

Tiff cackled as she often did, reveling in her cousin's agility with words. "Sure is cuz. We wouldn't want to upset little Miss Wakeman, would we?"

Jenny had expected something like this. "So you got some older boys to buy you drinks. Big deal. My mom let me have a two whole glasses of ethanol last new year's eve." Brit and Tiff exchanged a quick glance and sinister smirk.

"Oh, boys are good for a lot more then just drinks, eh Tiff?" retorted Brit.

Tiff chuckled lewdly, adding, "Oh, fo' sure they are! I especially liked that one fella with the sideburns, mmmm... He had just the right equipment to get _my_ motor runnin'!"

The rest of the girls giggled and snickered, Jenny obviously left out of the joke. "Equipment? Motor? What are you two talking about?" asked Jenny, growing irritated.

"Why, _sex,_ Jennifer. We're talking about sex," answered Brit in a hushed voice, not wanting her words to carry to any nearby teachers. Jenny could only stare blankly. A quick run through her internal dictionary came up blank: zero information on this "sex". Brit noticed Jenny's confused look and had to choke back a burst of laughter. "You...you don't even know what sex **is**, do you?" Brit slapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from giggling like mad, but nothing stopped all the other girls gathered from cackling like hyenas.

Jenny blushed a deep blue, mentally scrambling for a response. "Of course I do!" she claimed. "It's a... very exotic... and expensive... type of jewelry... that..."

Brit and the others let loose a fresh round of laughter. Tiff made it even worse when she joked, "Only if you count the pearl necklace I got from Bobby!"

"Oh Jenny, Jenny, Jenny," Brit interrupted, talking down to Jenny like she was a 5 year old "You poor girl. I guess you'll just have to wait for the teen health class next semester." Brit gave Jenny a quick once-over glance "You probably shouldn't even bother though. Once you know, it'll only be a big tease for you. After all, it's not like you're going to be attracting anyone with **that** ironing board you call a chest." Jenny, speechless, looked around the crowd of girls. Sure enough, all but a few had noticeably expanded chests compared to last year. And the biggest were Brit and Tiff of course, just to make sure Jenny's humiliation was complete.

"Okay, everyone to your seats!" the teacher shouted, breaking up the socializing. "It's time to get this school year underway. Now, when I call your name, come up to the front and pick up a textbook." Jenny was still fuming as she and the other students settled into their seats. "_I'll prove those rich brats wrong!_" Jenny quietly decided. "_I'll learn so much about sex it'll make their heads spin! They'll call me "XJ9: sex-bot! Yeah!_"

* * *

"What do you mean you won't teach me?!" Jenny shouted angrily, putting her hands on her hips and scowling at Mrs. Johansen, the health class teacher. "I'm sorry Jenny, but your mother already contacted us months ago and specifically requested that we not teach you the teen health course. Instead you'll be spending fourth period taking an honors physics class. You'll like it fine. I even think your friend Sheldon will be there."

"D'oh!" Jenny slapped her palm against her forehead. Putting that issue aside for a moment, Jenny asked again. "But why not? I really want to take the class! Early, too!"

Mrs. Johansen tried her best to look understanding, but still came awfully close to her typical stern frown. "It's not the school's policy to question the decision of parents regarding their children's education on this matter. Many have religious or moral objections to the class, others just prefer to handle the matter themselves. In your mother's case, I recall her saying that it simply wouldn't be relevant to you or something like that." Jenny's expression deflated into a defeated look, and Mrs. Johansen sympathetically patted her on the shoulder. "Talk to your mother about it dear. It was her decision."

Jenny gave up and left, heading towards the school's exit. She had thought talking to the faculty after class would be the solution, but they were no help at all! It was like there's some sort of conspiracy to keep her from learning about sex! Slinging her bookbag over one arm, Jenny pushed open the school's front door and started home. She was just about to take off when she felt a pair of hands reach around from behind her and encircle her neck. Jenny prepared to execute a flying backflip and dropkick her attacker when the hands began tickling her neck and collar socket mercilessly. Jenny laughed loudly, crouching and hunching her shoulder in an attempt to evade the tickling hands. A second later the tickles stopped and Brad stepped out from behind her, patting her on the back. "Just testing!" joked Brad, a smile on his face.

"Brad!" shouted Jenny happily as the two began to walk together. "You're just the guy I wanted to see!"

Brad grinned smugly, playing it up jokingly "That's what all the girls say." Acting like himself again, Brad continued, "So what can I do for you Jen?"

Jenny put on her sweetest face and tugged on one of her pigtails nervously. "I need a big favor Brad." She did her best to sound like a helpless, ditzy girl that Brad could impress.

Brad played right into Jenny's plan "Of course Jen, what're best friends for? Name it."

Jenny tugged on her pigtail more, and turned her eyes skyward in an innocent gesture "Well, I'll bet a smart, cool guy like you knows all about "sex", right?"

Brad smiled wider at the stream of compliments, and casually checked his fingernails as he imagined a suave guy might do. "I guess word spreads pretty fast among you ladies, doesn't it? Yeah, I know a thing or two."

Properly buttered up, Jenny moved in for the kill. "Oh Brad, I desperately need you to teach me how to do sex!"

Brad's eyes shot wide open, shocked. "Wha... what was that?"

"I want you to show me everything you know about sex," Jenny answered flatly.

Brad took a breath. "...One more time?"

"I want you to do a sex on me! Or however you say it." said Jenny, irritated. "Geez Louise, you have wax in your ears or something?"

Brad calmed himself and started over. "First of all, it's 'have sex'. Secondly, that's a really personal, intimate thing to do Jenny. I'm not so sure the two of us are ready for it... if ever. I mean, we're best friends and I like you a lot, but..."

"Arrgg! What is the big deal with everybody today?! It's like everyone is against me!" Jenny growled angrily, clenching her fists. "Well, if you won't, then maybe I'll just go ask Tuck!" Seeing Brad's horrified reaction, Jenny smirked and pressed for more. "Yeah, I bet if I bring him some candy, Tuck would have sex with me all day long!"

"Jenny, no, that is seriously wrong!. Stay away from my brother," Brad snapped.

Jenny didn't want to make her friend angry, so she tried a different tactic. "Well, why won't you show me how sex works?" Brad paused, thinking of something to say without offending Jenny. "Is it because I don't have a big bouncy chest like the other girls?" she demanded.

_Oh boy!_ That was dangerous territory. "No, it's not that at all!" he stammered, clutching at straws.

"Is it because I'm a robot then?" Jenny crossed her arms over her chest in a threatening manner.

Brad's mind raced... _There, that robot answer... that wasn't bad!_ Technically, a robot girl could be way different from a regular girl, so it might not even be possible to have sex with Jenny. "Yes! That's it! It's because you're a robot! You see..."

Jenny's expression stopped Brad in his tracks. She looked like she was about to burst into tears, with her face scrunched up, her pigtails drooping, her hands shielding her face. "Oh Jenny, wait, that's not..." Brad cautiously moved to place his arm on her shoulder to comfort her, but Jenny pushed him away.

"I've faced prejudice before, but... but not from my best friend!" Jenny cried, cleaning solution flowing from her eye sockets and running down her cheeks.

Brad cracked, defeated. "Ok! Okay... Jenny, I'll have sex with you." Jenny's crying stopped instantly, her face brightening into a smile. "Tuck is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight so my house should be pretty private. Give me a couple of hours to get ready then meet me in my room."

Jenny gave Brad a big friendly hug and thanked him profusely. "You won't regret this Brad! I'll be the best sex-er you've ever met!"

"Yeah, I'll bet. Listen, one condition Jenny: don't tell anybody about this, ok? I don't want to get in trouble because of you."

Jenny nodded eagerly, "Don't worry Brad, my lips are sealed." Brad still looked wary of this arrangement, but agreed and headed for his front door while Jenny crossed the lawn to her own house. She was pleased with herself because her trick had worked like a charm. "Maybe I can get other things I want like this," she mused. "I have been wanting mom to get me a new videogame to play."

Just as she reached for the doorknob, Jenny jumped backwards as someone leaped up in front of her.

"Hi Jenny!" Sheldon said in his usual perky manner. Jenny resolved to start paying better attention to her surroundings, since this was the second time today one of her friends had managed to sneak up on her. "Jenny..." Sheldon began, nervously. "I have something very important that I need to tell you. Well, and show you, too. It's over at my house."

Jenny sighed, not in the mood. "Sheldon, is this one of those life-and-death level emergencies?"

"Well, no," Sheldon stuttered, "but it's still very important."

"Ok then, I'll get to it a little later. I promise. But right now I'm very busy," she explained in a slightly condescending tone. "Just drop by later tonight and you can tell me all about it then. If I'm not at my house then I'll be at Brad's, he's tutoring me tonight."

Sheldon smiled, pleased with this result. "Alright then Jenny, I'll see you tonight!" Sheldon quickly retreated back to his house before he accidentally did something to make him look foolish. With him out of sight, Jenny pushed open the door to her home and stepped inside. A couple of hours to kill before she met up with Brad? Just right for a bit of relaxing after her stressful day at school.


	3. chapter 3

Jenny hummed a pleasant little melody as she stepped into her bathroom and turned on the shower, getting it heated up to the point she liked it at. It wasn't a typical shower, of course: this one sprayed a specially prepared chemical bath of slightly caustic detergents, designed to scour away the oil and grime her body accumulated over the course of a day without damaging Jenny herself. Jenny left the door open to keep the room from steaming up, figuring she had nothing to hide from her mother anyway.

While the chemical wash heated up Jenny began stripping naked, starting with her top. This wasn't exactly a simple process either. Jenny's clothing was designed to work in conjunction with her many systems and were marvels of technology in their own right. Beginning by unlocking the clasp at her back, Jenny unhooked each of the points of connection that attached the top to her chest and finally pulled free from the garment, setting it aside on the floor. Her clunky blue metallic boots came next, followed by her skirt, all winding up in a pile at her feet.

Jenny paused, looking at herself in the mirror. She had a nice enough body, she thought, in her own _special_ way. Milk white skin with a perfect complexion, trim figure, cute blue belly-button-thingy... Jenny traced her hands across her front as she went over each detail. But then her hands found their way to her recently lacking bust. Idly toying with her nipples, Jenny thought about what Brit had said earlier that day. Did being flat chested really make Jenny unattractive to the boys at the school? Maybe that's why Don Prima never gave her much notice. Come to think of it, her chest **had** been bigger when she tried wearing her improved exo-skin. And Don **had** asked her to dance, if it wasn't for the space bikers interrupting things. Maybe there was something to all this.

As Jenny pondered, she was mildly surprised to look down and find her nipples slightly extended out from her chest, prepared to perform their function as electrodes. "Hmmm," thought Jenny aloud, her chest's reflex reaction giving her an idea. "I am pretty good at reconfiguring myself into new shapes. Maybe if I try..." Jenny closed her eyes and concentrated on expanding her breasts, filling her mind with globular, oval shapes, anything that would give her the fleshy growths that the other girls coveted so much. Opening her eyes and smiling expectantly, Jenny's face fell as she saw the results. The left side of her chest had sprouted a stereo speaker, while the right side had been replaced by a heat-seeking missile.

Jenny groaned in defeat, resetting herself to her normal shape. "Why couldn't mom have installed some boobs on this dumb body?" Jenny took one last look in the mirror, blowing a raspberry at her double, before stripping off her thong and stepping into the shower. Instantly the hot liquid pouring over her body soothed Jenny's nerves, making her sigh in relief. When she was younger, Jenny found showers boring and would try to avoid taking them if possible. But since getting her latest upgrade she found the experience wonderfully relaxing. She almost wished she had hair that she could shampoo. Turning her back to the shower head, Jenny picked up her industrial grade sponge, applied a generous blob of antiseptic foam onto it, and began lathering it up against her body.

Jenny's hand rubbed the sponge across her bust, and a surge of tactile sensation alerted her to the fact that her nipples were still in their 'extended' position. "Whoops, forgot to put those back to normal. I'll just..." Jenny's voice trailed off, some part of herself stopping her from continuing. Instead, She raised the sponge to her chest and stroked it against herself again, repeating her earlier action. Again, a tingle of pleasure shot through her body and up to her brain. "Mmmmm..." Jenny sighed, placing the sponge aside and stroking her fingers against her nipples instead. "Oohhh, this feels nice. Extending the electrodes must expose a nerve junction or something." Jenny closed her eyes and enjoyed her new discovery, massaging and stroking her erect nips while her mind automatically dived into the middle of her favorite fantasy. She imagined the Silver Shell standing in the shower behind her, his arms reaching around to her front and groping her chest. She pictured reaching up behind herself to wrap her arms around her crush's collar, pulling his face against hers for a loving kiss while she ground her body against Shell's chest and legs. Jenny's hands tried to stimulate her nipples more and more, switching to pulling on them, then pinching them to increase the feelings of pleasure flowing through her brain. It was slightly better, but also left her frustrated and wanting more. Jenny concentrated on her fantasy, certain that the answer would be found in her imagined encounter with Silver Shell. In her fantasy she turned around to face the hulking boy robot, leaning the side of her face against his chest while his arms wrapped around her torso, trapping her in a warm hug. "Oh Shell..." whispered Jenny, her hands moving of their own volition across the Shell's abs, sliding down towards the juncture of his legs. "Oh Jenny..." responded Silver Shell, in an unusually nasal voice. Confused, Jenny lifted her head from the chest of her beau. "Shell, what..." she began, but became a shriek when she saw not the chiseled handsomeness of the Silver Shell, but instead the buck-toothed, pimple-skinned face of Sheldon.

The shock broke Jenny out of her fantasy, opening her eyes and stepping away from the chemical shower to make sure her dream mode was 100 off. "Damn it Sheldon!" cursed Jenny. "That one was going really good too!" Jenny sighed in exhaustion, looking down at her feet. "Oh wonderful," She muttered angrily "now the leak is back too. Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to investigate this." Jenny pulled up a nearby stool and sat down. Spreading her legs apart, Jenny attempted to get a better look at her privates by hunching her body over. This part of her body was pretty foreign to her; when she was younger her mother had explained to her that certain parts of her anatomy were simply unfit to be shown in public. She had been told that people would find it offensive, and since then Jenny had found little reason to disagree. There was little of use down here anyway, aside from her waste elimination port in the front and her jet-fuel intake valve in the back. Jenny leaned her arms against her thighs and used her fingers to pull apart the protective "lips" blocking her view. "Hmmm... ok, here's where I eliminate..." thought Jenny, spotting her waste port, "But the fluid isn't even coming from there. It's coming from _this_ hole." Jenny probed a fingertip into her new discovery, getting it wet with the clear viscous fluid flowing from inside of her. "I never even realized this was here. What's it for?"

Investigating further, Jenny pressed the finger in a bit deeper, tracing it around the edge of the hole, mapping out its dimensions. She began to feel the familiar sensations from before, from her fantasy. Curiously, Jenny swirled her finger around inside herself, finding the sensations increasingly enjoyable. "Nnnggg... this is even better than the nipples!" moaned Jenny as she started to piston her finger in and out. Blushing lightly, Jenny raised her free hand to continue stimulating her chest and put her mind to resuming her fantasy full on.

In her mind Jenny was laying on her back, with her love the Silver Shell looming above her. SS's head was at her chest, licking and nibbling at her nipples, his silver tongue gliding over her metallic flesh. Meanwhile, Shell's right hand was busy between Jenny's widely spread legs, pumping a finger rapidly in and out of her slick hole. "Oh Shell..." Jenny gasped in reality as well as fantasy, " ...it's _so_ good! I want more, please, _more_!" The fantasy-Silver Shell increased his pace even as Jenny herself lengthened her finger and upped her speed, frigging herself aggressively and splashing her leaking fluids with her hand.

"Uuunnhhh!" she moaned, her mind temporarily losing the ability to form complete words. "uuhhnnn... yeah... oh yeah... so gooooood!"

Jenny's mind reeled, her fantasy dissolving into a jumble of random images and sensations. Silver Shell's fingers sliding in and out of her crotch, her hand stroking her erect nipples, grinding her backside against Shell's groin, the feeling of his strong hands on her body... all swirled together as she felt herself losing control of her body, her only driving goal to keep her finger pumping in and out, building up more and more pleasure towards...

"Ungh! Unnn, uhh, uhhnnngg! Yessssss!" Jenny screamed, her nerves overloading with pleasure. She was vaguely aware of her body shaking with convulsions, and feeling her newly discovered hole clamp down and grasp her finger, even as a sudden gush of the mysterious fluid flowed out onto her palm. Deep inside her abdomen Jenny could feel electrical discharges firing off and arcing against her finger. Jenny had never felt pleasure like this before; she felt like the only thing that mattered in the whole world was making sure this feeling didn't stop. When it was finally over Jenny sat frozen, letting her sensors cool and carefully withdrawing her hand from her groin. "Oh wow..." she breathed after a short time had passed, casually reaching over with her other hand to turn off the shower. "If that's a malfunction, maybe I don't want it fixed!" she said to herself, deciding that for the time being at least, she'd keep this discovery to herself. If her mom found out, she'd probably never get to experience this kind of pleasure again. She would make a mental note to find out what that third hole was for though... Maybe it was finally time to crack open her owner's manual.

Stepping out of the shower still dripping wet, Jenny heard someone calling from the lower floor. "Je-nny!" came Sheldon's voice echoing up the stairs. "Are you upstairs?" he yelled, even as he climbed to the upper floor. "Sheldon, wait!" shouted Jenny in a panic. Sheldon seeing her in the nude was the **last** thing she needed today, and her top alone took six and a half minutes to put on. Jenny quickly snatched a towel from the towel rack and draped it around her torso, hopefully before Sheldon caught a glimpse of her. If he had seen, he didn't say anything that gave him away.

"H... hey Jenny. I needed to ask you something b- but I didn't realize that you, you were, uhmm," stuttered Sheldon nervously.

Jenny growled, still dripping the shower's chemicals onto the bathroom floor. "Spit it **out**, Sheldon."

"Well I came back because your mom mentioned earlier today that she had one more component I needed to install in our project, but she's out getting groceries and I thought it rude to just barge into her lab, but no one was around so I called out to you but I really didn't know that you were... oh man... in the shower. I'm really sorry Jenny, I didn't mean..."

"Fine! Go nuts! I'm going to be in my room changing, so **do not** come in, understand?"

"Yes Ma'am." agreed Sheldon meekly, inching his way away from Jenny and back down the stairs. With Sheldon gone, Jenny gathered up her clothes and stomped to her room, slamming the door.

Sheldon crept his way down into the basement lab, still blushing from embarrassment. To think, if he had remembered about the component even a couple of minutes earlier... well, Sheldon decided it was best not to dwell on what could've happened. He was still thankful he didn't have a black eye from this close call, though Jenny certainly seemed angry enough to give him one.

Making his way through the cluttered workspace, Sheldon marveled at the piles of loose parts and half-constructed gadgets. "Now where would she have left it..." pondered Sheldon aloud, his eyes roaming through the disorganized workshop. Finally Sheldon spied a large cardboard box towards the rear of the lab, with "the project" written on the side in black marker. There we go, that must be it. Opening the box, Sheldon found a number of odd looking devices, and some assembly instructions of how they fit together, and how they were meant to attach as part of a larger robot. Well... this _could _be the missing component of the force-field generator... Sheldon honestly had no idea how one would work, so he had no idea what to expect from it. Gathering the pieces up into the box and hefting it up in his arms, Sheldon headed back to his house.

Jenny heard the front door close from her room, indicating that Sheldon had found what he needed and left. Jenny had slipped on some fresh underwear and was now examining one of the few alternate outfits in her wardrobe. Last year Jenny had a bit of an emotional breakdown because of the fashion craze at school, ending with a weight-obsessed XJ9 removing all of her weapons and tools from her body. After that, her mother had been quick to agree to design a few alternatives to Jenny's typical baby-blue skirt and top. If only so Jenny could have some kind of variety in her day to day routine. The outfit Jenny was currently inspecting was designated her "formal" wear, and consisted of an indigo dress that hugged her frame and stopped just above her knees, plus a pair of matching high-heel shoes to replace her usual clunky boots. The outfit wasn't **nearly** as impressive in terms of armaments or armor, and it was considerably more restrictive in terms of what shapes Jenny could transform into, but then Jenny wasn't supposed to ever go on patrol in anything other then her standard original outfit.

Jenny spritzed herself with the perfume she'd gotten for her last birthday. She may not have any idea what Brad was going to do to her, but she could at least be at her best for it. Jenny stepped into the dress and began attaching it to her front, hooking up the connection points that allowed the dress to conform to XJ9's mental commands. Slowly making her way around to the back where the dress sealed together and locked in place, Jenny began to regret how she had treated Sheldon. It wasn't his fault that he had caught her showering, and she had been overly testy from her frustrating day. Plus, after her... experiment in the shower she had been feeling a little vulnerable. As Jenny locked the last clamp in place on her indigo dress and stepped into her shoes, she resolved to apologize to Sheldon when she saw him later tonight. She didn't want to be thought of as snappy, after all.

Heading downstairs, Jenny noticed her mother had come home with the groceries. "Well! Someone's dressed to kill! Going to dance at Mezmers tonight XJ9?" inquired Mrs. Wakeman, teasing her robotic daughter.

Jenny giggled and waved it aside, remembering her promise to Bradley. "Sometimes a girl just wants to look her best. I'm going over to Brad's house for awhile, that's all."

Mrs. Wakeman didn't seem to be paying attention, packing away the groceries while answering with a quick nod and "Mm-hmm... XJ9, did Sheldon drop by today? He told me he had something to tell you." Jenny nodded and paused on her way out the front door "Yeah, he mentioned it. I told him to tell me later. Bye mom, see you tonight!"

"Be back before curfew!" Mrs. Wakeman called after her. Clearing away the last of the groceries, she noticed the forcefield component she had left out for Sheldon to pick up was still here. "That's strange... I guess he didn't see it here. Oh well, I'll bring it over tomorrow morning." Without further thought, Mrs. Wakeman put the electronic device aside and headed for the coffee machine.


	4. chapter 4

Brad hummed nervously as he busied himself cleaning his room, making sure things were as presentable as possible. After thinking the situation over, Brad realized just how quick he had been to agree to Jenny's request. Sure, he still had the opportunity to stop this before it went any further if he wanted to. But Brad really couldn't say that he _didn't_ want this: the more he had thought it over, the more exciting the idea had become. Jenny **was** pretty, in her own special way; and, having been her friend for so long, a certain kind of attraction had naturally built up. Maybe this was just the logical next step in their friendship? Brad wasn't sure, and pondering it at length wasn't helping any. Best to make sure this went smoothly, at least. He'd already gotten the basics prepared: tea candles set up around the room, romantic music ready to play at the touch of a button, lighting dimmed appropriately. Brad had even changed into his 'Hugh Heffner'-style robe and pipe combo, which he was thoroughly convinced made him appear much more suave. The only thing left was for Jenny herself to arrive.

_Speak of the devil_, Brad thought as Jenny gently tapped a finger against his second-floor bedroom window. Brad swung the window open to let her in and caught sight of her outfit when he did. "Wow, Jenny, you look really..." he searched for the right word to pick, "...elegant in that dress. Come on in."

Jenny covered a smile with her hand and hovered into Brad's bedroom, landing soundlessly on the carpet in the center of the room. "Well, this place sure looks different," began Jenny, making small talk.

Brad closed the window and turned to face Jenny with a serious expression on his face. "Before we start anything, I just want to ask you one more time Jen, that you're sure you're... that _we're_ ready for this."

Jenny rolled her eyes, not grasping the severity of the situation. However, if Brad needed to be sure, then she supposed it wouldn't hurt to humor him. Crossing her arms over her chest, Jenny closed her eyes and soberly stated "Yes, Brad, I've thought it over and I've decided that I'm ready for you and I to do this sex thing." Peeking one eye open, Jenny took another look around the room. "So how do we start? I don't see any special equipment or instruction books..."

Brad just cleared his throat, and muttered "Uhh, those come later. For today just follow my lead, okay?" Brad pressed "play" on his remote control for his stereo system, filling the room with soft, rhythmic music.

"Hey! I like this song." exclaimed Jenny with enthusiasm. "I think I understand now... sex is a dance, right? That would explain why Brit and Tiff found out about it at dance clubs."

"What? No," corrected Brad. He stepped in close to Jenny and placed his hands on her shoulders, halting Jenny's attempt at a dance. "The music is just for atmosphere. To get you into the mood."

Jenny's eyes wandered to Brad's hands resting on her, surprised at the increased intimacy. "Mood? Now I'm confused again."

When Jenny's gaze rose back up to meet Brad's she found her voice suddenly gone, startled by the expression of desire that she found. "Just trust me for now," said Brad softly before pressing his lips against hers, sharing their first kiss.

Jenny froze then gradually relaxed, leaning against Brad and attempting to return the kiss. Admittedly, she didn't have a lot of practice with kissing, but she thought she did pretty well. Brad's arms slid around to encircle Jenny's shoulders, and she returned the gesture by hugging him around his torso. Jenny's lips pressed against Brad's again and again, each kiss lasting longer and growing more passionate then the last. After a few moments, the teens began swaying to the beat of the music as they embraced. Jenny really hadn't expected this, and yet, it did feel right somehow. Before, Brad had always been her closest friend and companion, and she knew he had saved her life more then once. But she had never thought of him as **more** then a friend before now. But then again, why not? Because he wasn't as popular as Don Prima? Because he wasn't a fellow robot like Silver Shell or Kenny? Jenny knew those reasons weren't valid. Brit and Tiff were proof that popularity isn't any way to judge a person's worth, and if there was something wrong with a robot dating a human then she should've given up trying for Don Prima a long time ago. Jenny closed her eyes, surrendering to the situation. Just when she thought she was getting the hang of things, Jenny felt Brad's tongue push past her lips and slide into her mouth.

"Yeow!" exclaimed Brad, pulling his head back sharply.

"What, what's wrong? Did I make a mistake?" asked Jenny, confused.

"No no, I was just surprised. I didn't expect your mouth to be so hot inside." replied Brad, closing the gap between them to try again. Jenny opened her mouth to make it easier, and extended her own tongue as Brad French-kissed her. As Jenny returned her attention to their kissing, Brad's hands began feeling around Jenny's back, searching for a familiar zipper or clasp but only finding complicated clamps and locks. Brad pulled away from their kiss, frustrated. "Ah, Jen, I think I need a little help back here. How does this come off exactly?"

Jenny pulled away from Brad, confused. "Why do you want to take my dress off?"

"Well, it's kind'a necessary Jenny. We both have to be naked to have sex."

"Naked?!" shouted Jenny, alarmed. "But... but I've never let **anyone** see me naked before. Well, except for mom, but that doesn't really count. Are you **sure**?"

Brad nodded solemnly. "'Fraid so. Remember, this was your idea, not mine. I'm just teaching you how I learned it at summer camp."

Jenny clasped her arms over her front protectively, her gaze falling to the floor as she thought it over. "Well..." she took a breath. "I guess so. But... you go first, ok? I'm kind'a nervous still."

"Ok. That's fair, I guess." Jenny took a seat on the edge of Brad's bed and watched him undo the belt holding his robe shut. Letting the housecoat fall to the floor left him in one of his typical white shirts, and a pair of loose fitting tan slacks. Without skipping a beat Brad pulled the shirt off over his head, tossing it into a nearby laundry hamper. Brad paused to gage Jenny's reaction, but she sat fairly expressionlessly on his bed, her hands folded on her lap and her eyes intently watching his every move. Brad hoped he would get a slightly better response from her when the rest was revealed. Cautiously and deliberately, he unbuckled his pants and let them slide off his legs, his underwear following right behind them. Brad felt relief wash over him and a smile grow on his face when Jenny gasped at the sight.

"What the hell is that?!" Jenny blurted out while pointing at Brad's groin. Brad's smile disappeared instantly, and he nearly fainted when Jenny's forearm sprouted into a complex looking laser aimed directly at his manhood. "Don't move Brad. I'll get it!"

Brad quickly covered his genitals with both hands, his blood turning ice-cold. "Jenny, **STOP**!! Put your gun away! Everything's ok, please!" Jenny slowly retracted her weapon and returned to her normal arm shape, but Brad's hands remained clamped over his nether region as he shivered, his face pale.

"I'm sorry Brad, I thought that fuzzy thing between your legs was some kind'a parasite attacking you. What is it?" asked Jenny.

Brad calmed down slightly, getting his breathing back to normal. "You mean you've never seen a guy's wang before? Not even in a textbook or something?"

"Never. I didn't even know what a 'wang' was. Can I see it again?"

Brad shifted nervously "You promise not to attack it?" Jenny nodded in agreement, so Brad lifted his hands away and stepped closer to Jenny, letting her take a closer look. For a minute Jenny just looked it over, extending a single finger to gently poke at it.

"You gotta admit, it **does** look like it has a tentacle. I can hardly be blamed for my mistake. Who would've know it was a... wang, right?"

"Wang, Johnson, Peter, Dick, they're all good names. Most people I know call it a penis or cock though," Brad stated, watching Jenny carefully to make sure she didn't attempt to pull it off or anything. Exploring, Jenny cupped Brad's testicles in her palm, feeling their weight in her hand and jiggling them around a little.

While touching and feeling Brad's male organs, Jenny suddenly realized that his cock was lengthening and starting to stick up towards her. "Did I do that? I hope I didn't break it." She looked up for reassurance from Brad and found only a pleased expression on his face.

"Oh, you're doing just fine Jenny," he answered. "But now it's your turn. You've seen me naked, so now it's my turn to see you."

With a sigh Jenny rose to her feet and stood in front of Brad as he took her place sitting on his bed. "You know, it took me twenty minutes to get this dress on," Jenny complained as her arms extended to reach behind her and begin undoing the clamps. The top three came undone first and Jenny allowed the top of the dress to fall forward, exposing her bare chest. Brad kept himself from saying anything, but couldn't help but stare at her stark white skin and light blue nipples. Jenny worked the remaining seals open, trying to ignore her nervousness. Finally, the dress released it's grip on her frame and slid to the floor, making a metallic clank when it hit. Jenny paused before she went to work on her thong, while Brad gave an appreciative whistle. "You really think I'm attractive Brad?" asked Jenny timidly.

Brad nodded. "I really do Jenny. I think... that I'm really glad you asked me to teach you."

Jenny smiled, and went to work removing her thong. A few moments later she slipped it off, standing fully naked before Brad. Jenny waited for Brad's next instruction, but Brad only continued to stare at her body, now focusing on the spot between her legs where he could see what looked to be a fully developed pussy. Unlike the other girls Brad had seen, Jenny was completely hairless below her head, which he found quite arousing.

"Ok, so... what next?" she asked, getting anxious at being ogled so openly. Brad patted a spot on the bed beside him so she'd sit next to him. Jenny did so, and with a little guidance from Brad the two teens promptly resumed making out. Gently but firmly Brad pushed Jenny down onto the bed, laying her down on her back and climbing on top of her. Pulling his lips from hers, he trailed his kisses from her cheek to her neck and down to her chest. Sliding his fingers over her small breasts, Brad felt her nipples extend against his palms, jutting firmly against his flesh. Grinning to himself over the rapid response he had gotten from Jenny' body, Brad turned his head downward and fastened his lips around one erect nipple, coating it with saliva and swirling his tongue around it.

Almost instantly, Brad was rewarded with a mild electrical shock to his mouth. He instinctively pulled his head away, but the jolt still left his lips tingling and a little numb. "Whad wuz dat?!" exclaimed Brad, his speech slurring from his stunned lips.

Jenny giggled, "Sorry, those are electrodes connected to my internal batteries. Your saliva must have worked as a conductor, and given you a little shock. Try not to touch the connection points on them and you should be fine."

Brad flexed his lips, recovering from the zap of electricity. "Anything else I should know about?"

Jenny thought about that for a moment. "Well, what else do we need to do for sex?"

Brad dropped any more attempts at being romantic, the shock killing the last of his patience. "Well, I put my penis inside you, kind'a move it in and out for a while, and then we cum. It doesn't sound as fun as it actually is."

Jenny looked at Brad suspiciously, as if she didn't quite believe him. "You want to put your wang _inside_ me? Inside me where?" glancing down at the organ in question Jenny noticed it had grown significantly larger then the last time she had looked and seemed much firmer. "I don't even know where you expect that to fit, without at least dismantling part of me first." Jenny got her answer when she felt Brad's hand touch her between her legs, stroking his middle finger in the groove between her protective lips. "Uuuhhmmm!" Jenny moaned involuntarily as she felt pleasurable sensations for the second time that day, this time from someone else's hand instead of her own. Spreading Jenny's lower lips apart with his fingers, Brad pushed his middle finger onward into Jenny's newly discovered opening.

"Brad, wait, not there... I don't think your cock would even fit in there anyway." whispered Jenny, her voice quivering from the pleasure that Brad's fingers were giving her, but tinged with the fear that Brad would activate her embarrassing malfunction.

"Nah, it'll fit," responded Brad. "You're already getting wet, see?" As proof Brad raised his slick finger for Jenny to see before popping it into his mouth and licking it clean. "You know, you actually taste kind'a similar to human girls," he commented casually, with Jenny looking on aghast.

"Brad! You just licked up my... leak! My malfunction! I don't even know what that stuff is!"

Brad smirked, confident. "I'm pretty sure it's not a malfunction Jenny. As far as I can tell, it's just a lubricating fluid, just like all girls make when they get in the mood. Nothing to worry about."

Jenny was still unsure, but couldn't fight the sensations Brad's fingers continued to give her. "Mmmm... your fingers feel really good in my hole Brad... even better than when I did it..."

Brad leaned down and kissed Jenny's cheek, never stopping his fingering. "Jenny, you need to learn some vocabulary. Don't call it your 'hole'. That's so bland. Call it your pussy, your cunt, your cootch, your beaver... anything but 'hole', ok?"

"Unnnhhh-huunnhh... ok... Brad." Jenny breathed, steadily growing more excited. Brad rested his head against Jenny's shoulder and kissed at her neck, pumping his fingers in and out of Jenny's sex and listening to her sighs of pleasure. "Brad, I want... I'm ready for you to put your... cock... into my... pussy now... please..." Brad nodded, repositioning himself over her and placing the tip of his member at Jenny's entrance. Brad held onto Jenny, hugging her around her torso, and pressing his lips against hers in a firm kiss. Pushing into her, Jenny's body accepted him easily, her juices lubricating the motion of his erect cock spearing into her hot tunnel. Brad was honestly quite surprised when he felt his erection tear through something inside Jenny, some paper-thin barrier hidden inside her. Of all the hurdles he had expected to have to walk Jenny through, he didn't think _that_ was one of them.

Jenny's body suddenly stiffened under him; apparently she had felt it too. "Are you alright Jenny?" Brad asked slowly. "I think I felt something tear."

Jenny's eyes were open, looking straight up at the ceiling. "I think..." she stated slowly, " ...that I just felt my warranty expire."

When Brad had determined that Jenny wasn't in any pain, Brad explained that he really hadn't expected a robot girl to have a hymen of any kind. "It's really ok, I didn't know about it either, and I didn't feel any real pain. How important could it have been, anyway?" Jenny comforted while stroking her hands over Brad's back. She caught his lips in a kiss and extended her tongue into his mouth, letting him know she wasn't discouraged. "Brad, really I'm fine. And I'd really like to start the 'in and out' part that you mentioned." His own hormones urging him on as well, Brad didn't resist and returned to his lip-lock with Jenny. While the lovers shared an ongoing French kiss, Brad began pumping his cock in and out of Jenny's tight passage, feeling her squeal into his mouth as the sensations coursed through her nerves. Slow at first but gradually picking up speed, Brad enjoyed every second of it, Jenny even wrapping her slender legs around his waist to add her movements to his own. Jenny's ears were ringing, or maybe there was a phone ringing elsewhere in the house, it was hard to tell at the moment.

"Ohhhngg... Brad, this is sooo good. I feel so, so full. Thank you so much for showing me how to have sex." Jenny hugged Brad tightly, nuzzling her face against his shoulder as he pounded away at her slippery pussy. Brad only nodded hastily in response, unable to produce much more then grunts. "Mmmmm, unnhh, oh Brad, uhn, yes, I think, unh, I'm close, something, is gonna happen soon, unh, unh, ohhhh!"

Brad's pace seemed to double, his manhood pistoning into Jenny as a furious pace. "Me too Jen. In fact, I'm there right now! OOOHHHHH! Uhn uhn uhn uhhhnnn!!" Jenny felt a sudden burst of heat flood her abdomen, as Brad pumped some kind of fluid deep into her insides.

"Don't stop!" she screamed as Brad started to slow his thrusts, "I'm so close! Just a little more...!!" Jenny's voice died as her body flew into a fitful spasm, her fingers gouging handfuls of mattress from the bed and her legs tensing completely straight. Her insides quivered and shook, and Jenny let loose a long, loud scream of pleasure just as an electrical discharge fired off inside her vagina and arced into Brad's member. The jolt of electricity surged through his genitals and made Brad yelp in pain.

Jenny collapsed back on the bed, her body limp as her systems went through a quick reboot. A few seconds later she was able to lift her head and saw Brad curled into the fetal position at the foot of the bed, clutching his groin and wincing. "Owwww...!" he moaned. "I don't think I have any burns, but still... geez! You could warn me next time! That **really** stings!"

Jenny sat up and lifted Brad over to lay next to her in the bed, her super strength having no trouble with his slender frame. "I'm sorry Brad," she apologized. "I didn't know that was going to happen. I've never felt anything **near** to _that_ before!" Trying to comfort him, Jenny pulled a sheet up over the two of them and kissed Brad on the cheek. "I'm really sorry, especially after you just made me feel so good too. I hope you're not mad at me. I was hoping that we might be able to do that again sometime."

Brad relaxed his wincing, calming down as the pain faded. "Well Jen, that's the thing. this one time, we could chalk it up as a learning experience for you... just something between really close friends. But if we **keep** doing this... then... we'd have to consider becoming a couple first. Otherwise you'd get a reputation as a slut."

Jenny paused in thought, then looked at Brad hopefully. "Brad... I do think you'd make a pretty great boyfriend. If you're interested in me at all, that is."

Brad looked over into Jenny's eyes, smiling at her compliment. "Well, it would be pretty cool to have a superhero girlfriend. Plus we already spend tons of time together, and I know it would freak Tuck out if he knew we were dating."

"So does that mean... you're my boyfriend now?" Asked Jenny, a dark blue blush forming in her cheeks.

Brad grinned and nodded, "Yep, guess so. Just as long as we keep things casual for now. We're still in high school, so no need to rush anything right?" Jenny agreed and rested her head on Brad's chest, sighing and draping one arm over his chest.

Elsewhere in the house, Sheldon peeked around corners and searched the ground floor, looking for Brad and Jenny. "First they don't answer the phone, then they don't answer the door, but the lights are on and the door is unlocked. I hope they're ok, I don't know what could've happened to them." Climbing the staircase, Sheldon felt guilty about his intrusion into the Carbunkle residence but assured himself it was for the best. "They probably just decided to study upstairs in Brad's room, it won't be a big deal if I just pop in to remind Jenny about my news." Sheldon reached Brad's bedroom door and quietly opened it and stepped inside, freezing in place as soon as the scene before him registered in his mind.

Jenny and Brad were naked, cuddling up together with only a sheer white bed sheet covering them. Their clothing strewn about the floor and the two of them were making lovesick puppy-dog eyes at each other. Sheldon felt like he was going to faint or vomit or have a heart attack, or some combination of the three. Then Jenny spoke, "Y'know Brad, I think I'm going to enjoy being your girlfriend."

Sheldon **knew** he was going to be sick. He managed a single, strangled cry before he ran sobbing from the room. It's possible Jenny called out "Sheldon! Wait...!" or something like that as he left, but he couldn't really hear anything for sure thanks to the blood pounding in his ears and the sounds of his own misery. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs his eyes were so filled with tears that he was navigating the house on memory alone. Sheldon stormed out the front door and out into the cool night air, running towards his house along the shortest route possible.

Inside, Jenny had quickly thrown on Brad's housecoat and tied it shut, opening the bedroom window to chase after Sheldon. Bothering to put the robe on had only taken about four seconds, but by the time she reached the window she could see Sheldon had already crossed the lawn and was stepping off the sidewalk and out into traffic. Temporarily blind and deaf as he was, Sheldon still probably heard the screech of tires and saw the headlights of the truck, an instant before it hit him.


	5. chapter 5

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

_**by Toonspew**_

_**Chapter 5**_

Jenny's forehead made a small _clink_ when she rested it against the door window of her mom's car. It had been such an exhausting night, emotionally. As she kooked out at the darkened streets of Tremorton as they passed by, Jenny's mind went over the night's events again.

Anything to avoid having to talk to her mom right now.

Everything had started out so great. After some confusion and a few false starts, Jenny and Brad had just become boyfriend and girlfriend, right after she had lost her virginity to him. Not only had she conquered sex, but she became closer to her best friend then they had ever been before.

Sex hadn't been quite what she expected, though. The nudity and physical intimacy involved was like no other human activity... if it feels so good, why do people make such a fuss about wearing clothing all the time? Sure it could be fashionable, but ultimately it's just going to get in the way. Jenny noticed dark rainclouds forming overhead, as if providing a counter to her argument for nudism.

Now that the whole event was over and finished, Jenny found her curiosity rising about Brad's "cock". It had startled her when she first saw it, which she excused as being a natural reaction to such an oddly shaped organ. But now that she was a little more used to it, it struck her as being rather cute, in it's own way. In fact, Jenny decided she would rather like to see it up close again, as soon as she could convince Brad to take her out on another date to the drive-in. Strange that it looked so different from when she had glimpsed Tuck's, back when they first met. Tuck's cock had looked more like a bulbous finger, and had none of the hair surrounding it that Brad's had. Maybe all boys had cocks that were shaped differently? Jenny made a mental note to sneak a peek into the boys locker room to investigate further.

Her thoughts turning to "other boys" made Jenny's heart sink. Despite how wonderful the encounter with Brad had been, it only took 56 seconds for it to all become a disaster. They had been caught naked in bed by none other then Sheldon, Jenny's friend and sometimes stalker. The boy was heartbroken, and had run straight out of the house. Before Jenny could catch him, he had run into traffic and been hit by a truck.

When Jenny got to him, she barely recognized Sheldon. The Truck's bumper had impacted against Sheldon's back, cracking his spine in half and leaving him unnaturally limp. His landing on the pavement hadn't been any kinder, bruising and breaking his face and arms. Jenny's protective instincts kicked into overdrive, likely having broke the sound barrier getting Sheldon to the hospital. The cost of a new front door for the emergency room would be coming out of her allowance, she expected.

Standing out in the hall outside of Sheldon's operating room, Jenny had never felt so helpless before. She must've checked her internal chronometer every ten seconds. Eventually Brad had arrived in a taxi, and Jenny finally let her resolve drop, weeping openly as he desperately tried to console her. She cried long after her solvent reservoirs had been depleted, but thankfully had regained some of her composure before Mrs. Wakeman arrived.

Brad had thankfully done the talking, explaining what had happened and strategically sidestepping any mention of what Jenny and Brad had been doing moments before Sheldon arrived. Jenny doubted her mother had failed to notice the fact that she was wearing nothing but Brad's housecoat however.

Jenny shifted in the car seat, suddenly reminded of how chilly it was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. She tugged the edges of the garment tighter around herself, spotting raindrops beginning to spatter against the car windshield. Jenny was terribly worried about Sheldon... when the doctors had finally stabilized him, he was in a very sorry state. Both his kidneys had been turned to paste, and his spleen had to be removed to stop the internal bleeding. On top of that his spinal chord had been severed... if he ever did wake up, he would certainly never walk again. And there was no guarantee he would recover at all... for all Jenny knew, he could die during her trip home.

Ms. Wakeman's car pulled up into the driveway of their house, and Jenny stepped out. The light rain did nothing to improve her mood. Once inside, Jenny waited for her mom to begin her lecture, or punishment, or something.

To Jenny's surprise, nothing came. "Go to bed, XJ9. It's late and you're tired, and I've got a lot to do. We'll talk in the morning." was all her mother had said, sounding quite weary herself.

Wordlessly, Jenny nodded and ascended the staircase to her bedroom.

The next morning, Jenny awoke and dressed in her usual outfit. She had been two drained last night to bother putting anything on, so she had tossed Brad's housecoat aside and tried sleeping nude for the first time in her life. Not bad, she reflected. She just might try that again sometime.

Sneaking quietly downstairs, Jenny hoped to leave for school before her mother woke up. She just... didn't want to face her. Not after the trauma of last night, and _especially_ not if she was baring the news that Sheldon had died during the night. Delaying the news wouldn't change the situation, Jenny knew, but perhaps with more time she might be better prepared for it. Maybe she could just go to school first, talk things over with Brad, find some way to cope, then things would be better.

No such luck, she realized, when she spotted Mrs. Wakeman sitting at the coffee table by the front door nursing a cup of tea and an english muffin.

"XJ9..." Wakeman called out in a strict tone, seeing her daughter appear on the staircase.

"Yes mother." answered Jenny flatly, not waiting for the question to be asked.

Jenny took a seat across the table from her mother, and waited for the bad news to hit. Mrs. Wakeman just looked over at her for a few moments, then took a deep breath, seeming to dread this conversation almost as much as Jenny was. "XJ9, we need to talk about some things. I'll start with the good news: Sheldon is still alive, and remaining relatively stable, as of seven A.M. this morning." Jenny relaxed significantly, immensely relieved.

"However, I've been told that he is fighting an uphill battle, and that his body is slowly dying. Sheldon has a matter of days to live, weeks if we're lucky."

Jenny remained still, her gaze dropping down to the floor, trying to keep her emotions in check. "Go on." Jenny said softly, barely audible.

Mrs. Wakeman cleared her throat, continuing "Well, the thing is... I may be able to save Sheldon, and return him to health, but,"

Jenny stood straight up out of her chair. "WHAT?! You can fix him right now? Well why haven't you already?" shouted Jenny.

Mrs. Wakeman grabbed her by the hands and pulled her back down to her chair, speaking more forcefully but still trying to maintain a calm air. "It's not as simple as all that. There were preparations to be made, ethical choices to be weighed. And more importantly I had to talk it over with Sheldon's parents to ensure their consent. And it's not like I'm just going to wave a magic wand and he'll be better; there are risks involved, he may even suffer from brain damage after. If it works at all."

"Mom, please!" countered Jenny "Sheldon is one of my closest friends, and... and I'm responsible for the accident. If he dies, the guilt will just eat me alive! I swear, I'll self-destruct!"

"Calm down, XJ9. Sheldon's parents have made their decision, and so have I. We're going to do what we can to help Sheldon. But that brings to my next point; in light of the fact that you came home wearing Bradly's clothing and **your** dress is currently adorning his bedroom floor, I have no choice but to give you _the talk_. I'd like you to bring Bradly over here after school, he should hear this information as well."

Jenny was confused. "The talk? Talk about what?" she asked.

Mrs. Wakeman grumbled, putting down her tea cup. "When I built you Jenny, I knew that someday you would discover sex for yourself. I tried to forestall it by removing any relevant sexual education from your database, and yet you still figured it out much earlier then I anticipated."

Jenny still didn't quite see the problem. "So... yay me?" she offered, hoping it was the appropriate response.

Her mother frowned, "Jenny it's not something to be proud of! You're still a very young girl, and I'm not certain you're ready for this yet. I still planned to give you at least two more upgrades before a boy even got to second base with you." Mrs. Wakeman sighed with disappointment. "Perhaps I should just forbid you to socialize with boys altogether. If you can't even be trusted to keep them from having their way with you..."

"Hey, now that's not fair!" Jenny interrupted angrily. "Brad didn't do anything I didn't want him to, he's completely innocent in all this. And besides, I wouldn't have even been curious if you had just trusted me to handle sex ed on my own!"

Taking a breath and lowering her tone of voice, Jenny explained. "Just because you're afraid of my developing sexuality, doesn't mean I should have to pay the price for it." Jenny realized she had gotten up from her seat during her tirade, so she pointedly sat back down with a "hmph".

Her mother looked shocked, but not angry. She seemed to think things over for a minute, then calmly spoke; "You and Bradly... how far have you 'experimented' together?"

Jenny crossed her arms over her chest, embarrassed to admit that information to her mother. Seeing no way around the question, she instead tried to lessen her embarrassment by using more polite terms.

"Brad put his fleshy... boy-part... into my... erm... lubricated entry port. Between my legs. Then he did this really nice in-and-out motion that made me surge electricity." Jenny grinned sheepishly, knowing that her cheeks were blushing a deep blue.

Her mother seemed to take this in stride, keeping calm and asking "And have you done this with any other boys?"

Jenny started, "Oh no, never! I don't want people to call me a _**slut**_." Jenny spoke the last word with clear distaste, having learned from Brad that whatever it meant, it was something to be avoided at all costs. "Is that why you're so upset? Trust me, Brad told me all about it; we've agreed to go steady, so there is nothing to worry about."

Mrs. Wakeman made up her mind. "Ahem... well then, given the circumstances, I'll allow you to continue to see Bradly. But only under the condition that you both come see me after school, I need to educate you on safe sex."

Jenny liked this answer well enough, feeling as though she had just dodged a major bullet. She reclined in her chair, looking across the table at her mother. Mrs. Wakeman returned to drinking her tea, while Jenny sat still in her chair. Pausing from her meal, Wakeman concluded the conversation with "Go! Get to class, you're late as it is."

"You're sure I have to be here for this?" asked Brad for the third time, as he and Jenny walked up to the front door of the Wakeman residence.

"That's what she said. Let's just get it over with. Maybe then they'll let us go see Sheldon in the hospital." Jenny reached out for Brad's hand, giving it an affectionate and reassuring squeeze, before opening the door and stepping inside.

"What the..." breathed Brad, seeing a screen and slide projector set up inside the living room, with chairs set up for the two of them.

Mrs. Wakeman was waiting for them, a slightly impatient look on her face. "Please, come in and sit down. And close the door behind you, XJ9. You weren't raised in a barn." Managing an annoyed grunt Jenny complied, then sat down next to Brad. Mrs. Wakeman paced back and forth in front of them, deciding how to begin.

Mrs. Wakeman collected herself, mentally swallowing her pride. "Ahem. Well, let me begin by saying that, Bradly, I'm pleased that you chose to court my daughter instead of chasing after some random high-school cheerleader floozie. I've always known you were a bright boy, when you concentrated, and your choice just goes to prove that you have an eye for the finer qualities in a woman. And XJ9, I'm proud of you for selecting someone you trusted and got to know first. Far to many young girls put out just for the sake of popularity these days." Muttering under her breath, she added "Damned sluts."

Brad and Jenny exchanged a nervous glance. Suddenly, the screen in front of them lit up as the slide projector started up, displaying the first image: a schematic drawing of XJ9, completely naked. Jenny blushed out of reflex.

"XJ9 is more then just a Global Robotic Response Unit. In addition to being a superhero, Jenny is also the first functioning Von Neumann device, of a sort." Brad interrupted the lecture by raising his hand. Sighing, Mrs. Wakeman rolled her eyes and answered the question she assumed Brad would ask; "The answer to your question, Bradly, is a machine that can create copies of itself."

"I can create copies of myself?" asked Jenny, incredulously.

"Well, not exactly." answered her mother. "A true Von Neumann device would be able to, yes. You, Jenny, are modified somewhat. You see, prior to designing you I ran many simulations of what might happen if I released a sentient Neumann device into the world. 76 of the simulations ended in the robot deciding to create armies of itself and overrunning the Earth and nearby solar system. So, I decided the humanize the process a bit."

Clicking to the next slide revealed a pair of robots, one looking somewhat like Jenny and the other being mostly just a rough outline of a male body shape, with the respective gender symbols imprinted over them. "You, XJ9, are only one half of the equation now. In order to create a new robot, you need to cooperate with the second, 'male' robot. Additionally, any offspring you reproduce will not be an exact duplicate... a degree of randomization is built into you to ensure the new robot will be a combination of the the traits of the two parents, plus a measure of innovative features as well, that depend on numerous other factors such as environment, construction flaws, diet during the pregnancy..."

"Woah, woah, pregnancy?!" interrupted Brad, suddenly very concerned. "I did **not** know Jenny could get pregnant."

Jenny turned to Brad, adding "That makes two of us!"

"Oh relax!" said Mrs. Wakeman "**you're** not exactly a robot, are you Bradly? But I am telling you this for your education, so please, no more interruptions!" The two teens settled down, and Mrs. Wakeman continued the lecture. "Now, to understand the process of XJ9's reproduction, you need to understand something about how her electronic brain works. Jenny's entire personality hinges on the fact that her brain is a learning computer. Aside from a few hardwired functions essential to your survival, everything you know has been learned through experience. Oooh, I still remember how proud I was the day you figured out how to walk on your own..."

"You may be wondering why you don't remember learning to walk, or dress yourself, or how to speak english. It's because at the time, you weren't XJ9." Mrs. Wakeman clicked the projector to the next slide, showing a progression of ten robots from left to right, most of which Jenny recognized as the "sisters" she had once found hidden in her house, deactivated. "You see, the XJ series robot is designed for a ten-stage development process. Beginning as an XJ1, you learn to eat, move, and not to release your waste fluids all over my carpet. Moving up the scale, you pass through each body picking up new skills as you go, until XJ8, which is weapons training. The ninth body was intended as the practical debugging stage, testing your accumulated skills against minor threats like asteroids and such. And it would've stayed that way, had Tuck not chased a baseball into my house and introduced you to human social interaction."

"After each body switch, your previous memories become permanently integrated into your programming, in such a way that you're able to make use of the skills without the actual memory of learning it cluttering up your RAM." Mrs. Wakeman paused, looking proud of herself.

Jenny spoke up "But, what does that have to do with the pregnancy?"

"Ah, yes of course." Mrs. Wakeman answered. "You see, the female XJ robot is only equipped to construct the outer hardware of the new offspring XJ1. The intricate cybernetic neural junctions needed for the brain of the offspring can only be assembled by tiny nanites, which would normally be supplied by the male robot. The nanites would have to be nonfunctional initially, or else they would attempt to construct neural pathways while still in the male's system. So, once they're **out** of his system, they need to be activated by an infusion of energy..."

"The electrical shock!" concluded Jenny in a flash of realization.

"Yes," nodded Jenny's mother, "which brings me to the point of this lecture. In order to protect Bradly from your electrical discharge, you'll need to practice 'safe sex'." Ms. Wakeman pulled out a dusty cardboard box and produced from it a handful of rubber domes, about the size of large bottle caps.

"Jenny, slip one of these over top of your spark plug before sex, and it should keep you insulated. There are spares if the first one starts to corrode. Which reminds me..." Digging around in the box, she pulled out a few hand held appliances of various shapes. "Now that you've broken your seal, you'll need to keep the area clean. I would suggest no less then once a month."

Jenny frowned, looking over the uncomfortable looking tools. "Oh... goody." she groaned, unenthusiastically.

"Well, any questions?" asked Mrs. Wakeman.

Jenny put the objects back into their box, and replied with a sad expression. "Yeah... Sheldon. How's he doing? Were you able to help him like you said?"

Mrs. Wakeman removed her glasses and began cleaning them as she spoke. "Well, it's a bit early to tell for sure. I performed the procedure earlier this afternoon, while you were at school. Sheldon's brain is still coping with the change." Turning off the projector and heading towards the door, Mrs. Wakeman offered "I'll take you visit him, he might appreciate the company. But I must warn you both... his appearance may be a shock."


	6. chapter 6

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 6**_

"Please don't hurt me!" wailed the scrawny nerd that Tiff had hoisted into the air by his shirt collar.

"Now that depends, don't it?" Tiff answered with a malicious smile "Did you do my homework for me, or not?" For good measure, Tiff shook the fretful kid, threatening to dump him into a nearby trashcan or worse.

"I've been trying to tell you: You didn't ask me to do your homework last week, you asked Sheldon!"

Tiff paused, reviewing her memory. Most nerds **did** look alike to her, so it was quite possible this one was telling the truth. "Allright then... so where is Sheldon? If'n **he's** the one with my homework, then I shouldn't be wasting my time with you, right?" Tiff put the poor geek down, where he nervously tried to compose his answer enough that Tiff wouldn't hit him afterwords.

"Err... the thing is... Sheldon isn't at school today. I heard that he stayed home sick or hurt or something."

Tiff growled, brandishing her clenched fist in the nerd's face. "You'd better not be lying ta me!" she threatened. "A'ight... so where is Sheldon's house at? I'll go pick it up mahself."

* * *

Arriving at the address she was given, Tiffany Crust thought about the best way to approach. She'd been extorting "tutoring" almost as long as she'd been collecting lunch money from other kids, so she knew her way around the racket. Hiding at home was a pretty common avoidance tactic, so occasionally she felt it prudent to make "house calls" to show the target of her bullying that it would be easier to just give Tiff what she wanted. The trick was getting past the parents, who could put a stop to the whole operation if they figured out why Tiff was over at their house. Once Tiff had even had to fake having a crush on one of her targets to explain her presence in his bedroom. Uhg. That dork did **not** know how to kiss.

With those thoughts fresh in her mind, Tiff decided to be extra careful this time. She would scope out the house first, try to figure out what room Sheldon was in, and where in the house his parents were. Then, she could pick out the best point of entry, and "move in for the kill". Sheldon would get an extra punch in the stomach for all this effort she was forced endure, the bully decided. Circling around into the backyard, Tiff didn't see anyone in the house. So far, so good as far as avoiding parents was concerned. Maybe if she was really lucky they would be out of the house altogether. Continuing around to the side of the house, Tiff spared a moment to peek through a small window in the side of the garage, just in case. Tiff gasped.

Inside was none other then Jenny Wakeman, the robot girl who was the source of so much grief in Brit and Tiff's life lately. She was an easy target for ridicule, it was true, but more often then not the egg usually ended up of Tiff's face, something which she rarely had to endure before Ms. XJ-9 had enrolled at Tremorton high. Next to Jenny was Brad Carbunkle, who Tiff recognized as a moderately popular boy from school. She had noticed him hanging around with Jenny a lot... were they going out, or was it a "just friends" thing? She mentally shrugged to herself, deciding she shouldn't care anyway. Getting to someone through their social ties... that was really more Brit's thing, not hers.

There was also an older woman there, Tiff saw. Jenny and Brad were listening to the old lady intently, and the whole scene looked pretty serious. No sign of Sheldon, though. The lot of them were all standing around some big hunk of gray metal... wait a second, was that another robot?

Tiff forgot all about her mission of homework extortion, much more interested in whatever was happening inside. Maybe if the window was unlocked, she could... biting her tongue to muffle a grunt of effort, Tiff forced the window open a crack, thanking Zeus that it hadn't made any noticeable sound. Now that she could hear what was going on inside, Tiff crouched down to minimize the risk of getting caught, and cupped a hand to her ear to listen in.

" ...I was so blind not to have figured it out." Jenny scolded herself. "I mean, **Shel**-don, Silver-**Shell**, duh!" Jenny paced around the garage nervously, obviously worried, while her mother operated something in the back of Silver Shell's head.

"Yes, well, don't feel too bad about it dear. Despite his youth, Sheldon did a marvelous job with the Shell's initial construction. I only knew because he told me about it when he came to work as my apprentice."

Mrs. Wakeman closed the hatch, finishing whatever work she had done. "I've just started the reboot procedure for Silver Shell's main computer. Now remember, even though he may look unfamiliar, inside this robot lies the consciousness of your friend Sheldon."

Brad put a hand on Jenny shoulder to stop her pacing, and asked "So... how were you able to do this exactly? I don't mean the science stuff, I mean... I've never heard of a procedure like this happening before."

"It never has happened before" answered Mrs. Wakeman. "Sheldon is the first attempt. I developed the theory behind the procedure back when I was designing the XJ Global Response Unit. At the time, I feared I wouldn't be able to complete the project within my lifetime. So my plan was to upload my consciousness into a computer before my death, where I could continue to design the XJ robot without fear of being claimed by old age." She sighed, and continued. "But, ultimately it was unneeded, as XJ-9 is now almost entirely complete, and I only have her final stage left to build. And, when I decided to take Sheldon on as an apprentice, I assumed he could carry on my work should something unforeseen occur. So, I never bothered to construct the computer that would house my consciousness, or test the theory on anything higher then lab rats."

"Lab rats?" chimed in Jenny. "You mean Vladimir and his cronies?"

Her mother nodded. "Yes, I've found them to be just as cute now that they're occupying a series of old arcade games. And much less trouble. But I never foresaw **this** happening." She indicated Silver Shell's prone form "It was the only computer I could think of that would be sophisticated enough to house Sheldon's mind. I'm still waiting to see if his mind is capable of adapting to his new body though. If his mind is intact, he should eventually learn to talk and move again, but until then he likely won't be able to do anything but lay there and try to cope with his new condition. But rest assured, he is awake and can hear us right now."

Silver Shell's eyes lit up, glowing a soft white, though the robot remained unmoving on the workbench. Mrs. Wakeman approached Silver Shell's face, with Jenny and Brad leaning in close behind. "Sheldon, it's me. Nora. Try not to be startled, I've just reactivated you. I've brought some visitors for you, your friends Brad and Jenny. I thought you might like to see them." Mrs. Wakeman stepped back, letting Jenny and Brad move in closer.

"Uh, hey buddy." said Brad, scratching the back of his head with one hand, "So what's it like being a robot now?"

Silver Shell said nothing, and Brad corrected himself. "Right... you can't talk yet. Well... keep trying... you'll figure it out soon enough." feeling foolish, Brad backed away, letting Jenny have a turn.

"Ah... Hi! Sheldon... I mean, Silver Shell. Or... what should we call you now? Maybe just 'Shell'?" Jenny forced a grin, which was difficult given the expressionlessness of Silver Shell's face. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that as soon as you start moving again, I'm gonna be right here to help teach you how to live life as a robot. I know it'll feel kinda weird at first, but I'm sure you'll get used to it. Oil tastes better then you might think, and at least you don't have to learn about dealing with dreams and nerves and stuff like I did! Heh... aheh. heh..." Jenny's smile disappeared, her facade of cheerfulness failing. Jenny threw her arms around Silver Shell's chest, pressing her face against his collar, weeping. "Sheldon, please say something! I can't stand being responsible for having done this to you. I really need you to be okay!"

The garage fell silent, save for the soft sobs coming from Jenny. "Sheldon... pleaaasseee... don't be a vegetable..."

"Jenny."

"hunh?" Jenny pulled her head up off Silver Shell's chest, looking up into his face. Mrs. Wakeman came running over for a closer look. "Jenny." Silver Shell repeated, his voice an odd blend of Sheldon's high, nasal voice and the melodic, deep voice Jenny had come to expect from Silver Shell. "That's good dear, try saying something else." encouraged Ms. Wakeman.

"Don't."

"Don't?" asked Jenny, confused. "Don't what?" she quickly looked around for some clue, then self-consciously lifted herself off of Silver Shell's chest, giving him some space. Nearby, Mrs. Wakeman lifted one of Silver Shell's hands into the air and let it drop to check for reflexes, and shone a pen light into his robotic eyes.

"Cry." Stated Silver Shell, in his unusual composite voice. Jenny reacted, "Mom stop, I think you're hurting Sheldon's eyes. He says he's gonna cry."

"No Jen." said Brad, putting an arm around Jenny's shoulders as he approached her from behind. "He said: 'Jenny don't cry.' He doesn't want to see you sad."

Jenny broke into a huge smile, as fresh tears started to leak from her eyes. "Not a chance Sheldon." she said, returning to hugging her friend.

* * *

"Ok now Sheldon, you've made a lot of headway today, but your brain is still weak and needs to rest. I'm going to shut you down for the time being, but I'll be back tomorrow and we'll continue with your physical therapy." Sheldon nodded to Mrs. Wakeman, leaning his head forward to giver her access to his power junction. After he had been manually set to sleep mode, Mrs. Wakeman turned to Jenny and Brad.

"I have one other favor to ask of you. Sheldon had built a remote control device into Silver Shell's brain that we intended to use to pilot Shell in the upcoming robotics expo. I've already looked around his house but I can't find it anywhere, so I can only assume Sheldon left it at Bradly's house during the accident last night. I need you to find it and return it, the last thing we need right now is for Tuck get a hold of it and accidentally send Sheldon on a rampage through Tremorton."

Tiff's imagination went wild. A remote control? Oh, the things she could do with that... having a robot as powerful as Jenny under her control! Quietly, Tiff backed away from the window and crept away from Sheldon's house, then took off in a sprint towards Brad's. It was risky, especially since she was racing the clock, but the rewards would be sooooo worth it if she could grab the remote control first.

Panting for breath when she arrived, Tiff found the front door of Brad's house unlocked.

Sneaking inside, Tiff did a quick check for anyone else in the house. Down the hallway, she could hear someone watching television... she guessed that was Tuck, the little brother that Jenny's mom had mentioned earlier. Keeping her eyes peeled for any kind of remote control device, Tiff crept up the stairs to the second floor, and made her way over to what she guessed was Brad's bedroom. She estimated that she had another 5 minutes or so to find it and get out of the house before Jenny and Brad arrived... perfect! Tiff spotted the remote dropped on the floor just outside of Brad's bedroom. Tiff reached to grab it...

Suddenly, she heard the front door open, followed by the recognizable sounds of metal feet hitting the floor. "Hi Jenny! You come over to hang out tonight?" called out the voice of Tuck, from deeper in the house. "No, I'm just here to pick up something for my mom. I'll hang out with you tomorrow maybe." answered Jenny. Tiff dashed into Brad's room, trying to avoid being seen. Damned robot rocket jets! It hadn't taken them any time at all to get here! Tiff desperately needed a place to hide. Hearing footsteps approaching and with no other alternative, Tiff dove into Brad's closet and pulled the door closed, leaving it open only a crack to let her see when the coast was clear.

"Oh, here it is." came Brad's voice. Crap! In her haste Tiff had left the remote control on the floor. Well, at least now they wouldn't check the closet for it.

"Thanks Brad. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." said Jenny.

"Woah, woah... what's the rush Jen? You're not gonna stick around for a little while?" answered Brad, followed by some sounds Tiff couldn't quite identify. A few moments later, Tiff saw Jenny and Brad enter the bedroom, then Jenny turned around and started kissing Brad right on the lips! Woah, definitely more then just friends!

From her vantage point, Tiff had an excellent view of Brad and Jenny making out. Not to mention the remote control, which Jenny casually placed on Brad's nightstand. Tiff stuck out her tongue to make a "grossed out" expression, but found it hard to look away. Then Tiffs eyes almost bugged out of her head when she saw Brad and Jenny take off their shirts! She had seen several guys naked in recent months during her clubbing outings with her cousin Brit, but there was something different about seeing someone that you knew in day to day life suddenly being revealed. Sparing a glance to look over Jenny, Tiff was pleased with what she saw: Jenny had a visibly underdeveloped bust, and Tiff felt quite proud of her own in comparison. On impulse, Tiff placed both her hands on her breasts and gave herself a squeeze, as if to illustrate how much larger she was then Jenny.

On the bed, Brad was whispering something to Jenny while she giggled, and they both touched playfully at each other's chests. Then, right before Tiff's unbelieving eyes, Jenny and Brad proceeded to strip each other naked. Jenny's clothing seemed to take a while, compared to Brad's pants which slipped right off. Soon the two teens were squirming around on Brad's bed, french kissing and groping each other, and Tiff noticed that Jenny's hand quickly strayed down to grasp Brad's erect cock. Geez, how long had this been going on? Tiff thought back... wasn't it only a couple of days ago that she and her cousin had been teasing Jenny about her total lack of knowledge about sex? And yet here she was, giving a handjob to a boy like it was second nature.

"Wait a sec Jenny, don't forget about protection." said Brad, his voice half moan as Jenny jerked him off while she licked at his earlobe.

"I've got a condom sweetie... you wanna put it on?" Tiff watched Jenny hand Brad something small and black, then lay back and spread her legs open.

Brad grinned, and carefully pushed two fingers up inside Jenny's pussy. "You're already good and wet Jen..." Brad commented lustily, Jenny giggling and responding "Well, it just goes to show what an efficient design I have." Brad chuckled and continued wiggling his fingers around inside his girlfriend, which Jenny seemed to appreciate. "There we go, got it on." Brad announced, pulling his fingers out of Jenny and licking them clean, "now... how would you like to do this?"

"Hmmm, how about..."

_Doggystyle, doggystyle, doggystyle,_ Tiff whispered to herself, crossing her fingers and hoping the robot girl would pick her personal favorite position. " ...would _this_ work?" asked Jenny, getting onto her hands and knees and thrusting her ass out towards Brad.

"Oh yeah, that'll be just fine..." grinned Brad, getting into position behind Jenny, while in the closet Tiff mentally let out a "Yes!" Okay, this was just too much for her to take. First she's treated to an impromptu peepshow, and then they use her favorite position too? Tiff hastily hiked up her skirt around her waist and pulled her leggings down to her knees, followed by her damp underwear. She had to hold back a moan as she plunged a finger into her wet sex, all the way up to her third knuckle.

Looking out at the teen couple again, Tiff saw that they had gotten fully into the each other already... Brad was gripping Jenny by her hips, and was balls deep inside her tightly squeezing pussy. From her viewpoint, Jenny and Brad had their backs turned to Tiff, and all she could see of Jenny was her legs and her robotic womanhood getting pounded by Brad. Which meant that most of what Tiff could see was Brad's nakedness, and happily ogled the boy as she frigged herself into a frenzy. In fact, without Jenny in the way, Tiff found it easy to imagine herself being underneath Brad right then, and tried to picture the sensation of being taken by him as passionately as he was giving it to Jenny right now.

"Oh Brad!" moaned Jenny out in the bedroom, pushing back against her boyfriend with every thrust he made.

"Feel good Jenny? Tell my how much you like it..." he called back to her, sweat forming on his brow.

Jenny's moan almost became a scream. "I love it Brad! Your big dick makes me feel so good! I can't get enough of you! Ooohhh, fuck me more!"

In the closet, Tiff was almost shaking. With two fingers stuffed up her cunt while her thumb massaged her clit, Tiff just laid back and marveled at the dirty talk being tossed back and forth between the two lovers. Tiff's left hand blindly groped for a handhold amidst the pile of dirty laundry that she was sitting in, and randomly picked up a pair of Brad's underwear. Reveling in the kink of it all, Tiff held on tightly as she felt her orgasm hit, gritting her teeth and stroking her drooling pussy as fast as she could, desperately hoping she wouldn't be heard.

Jenny started to lose control, and she loved it. She reached behind herself, extending her arms until she could reach around behind Brad and grasp him by his ass, pulling him against her and helping him drive ever deeper into her pulsating vagina. "Unnnggg! Oh Brad... I'm so close... so close... I'm gonna cum really soon...!" cried Jenny, her eyes clenched shut. Brad's hands roamed over his lover's back and hips as they made love, then down further to squeeze Jenny's asscheeks. Then, spreading her cheeks wider, Brad noticed something he hadn't seen before. Deciding to take a chance, Brad pressed the tip of his finger into the tightly puckered hole he found, some of Jenny's lubricant from earlier easing the passage.

"AAHHHHH!!" screamed Jenny. Concerned he had done something wrong, Brad froze, his cock buried to the hilt inside Jenny's spasming pussy, his fingertip wedged slightly into the new hole he had found.

"Jenny are you allright?!" Brad asked, worried.

Jenny nodded frantically, only managing to cry out "UNG! ...CUMMING!!" as an answer, her body shaking with convulsions. Reassured, Brad resumed thrusting into his girlfriend's tight body, riding her through her orgasm. Jenny grabbed hold of Brad's pillow and bit down on it, in an effort to keep herself from screaming any more.

All this was to much for Brad to endure any longer. Letting go of his mental resolve, Brad let the vibrations of Jenny's body push him into an orgasm of his own. Just as Jenny felt her nerves start to return to normal, Brad gripped her tightly around her torso and she felt him release a gush of hot cum inside of her. Turning her head, Jenny nuzzled her lips against Brad's cheek and stroked the other side of his face with her hand. She whispered something lovingly to him low enough that Tiff couldn't hear, then giving him a peck on his cheek. Brad could only grunt to acknowledge her, slowly coming down from his climax as Jenny's vagina milked the last few spurts from him. Finally, the two lovers separated and fell back, spent, onto the bed.

Jenny and Brad soon cuddled up against each other affectionately, but after a few short minutes their tranquil moment was ruined when Jenny's chest folded open and a communication screen appeared, which incidentally smacked Brad in the face as it emerged.

"Sonova!" he muttered, holding his hands over his nose protectively.

A black and white image of Jenny's mother appeared on the screen that emerged, saying "Jenny, you're needed at once! Oh, I do hope I'm not... interrupting anything?" Jenny pivoted to make sure her mother couldn't see Brad nearby, and proceeded to lie through her teeth. "Of course not. What's the emergency?"

"The spatial anomaly detector has discovered evidence of recent Cluster activity in the nearby area of our solar system. I'd like you to go investigate. Assuming you're not busy, of course?" Mrs. Wakeman asked.

Jenny smiled, "Sure thing mom, I'm on it!" then retracted the video screen. "Sorry Brad..." she apologized, both for accidentally hitting him and for having to leave so abruptly.

"That's okay Jenny. I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Jenny nodded, trying to get her clothes back on as quickly as possible. Brad, of course, had his on again in a fraction of the time, but he tried not to rub it in her face.

When Jenny had finished getting dressed, she leaned over for one last kiss. "Good luck on your mission." said Brad reassuringly.

"Don't worry," replied Jenny, patting her belly just below her waistline "I've got a small piece of you to keep me company." and with a wink, Jenny took off out Brad's window. Brad watched her go, until there was a knock at his door.

"Brad?" called out Tuck from the other side. "Brad, what've you been doing in there? I heard a bunch of weird noises from downstairs. Are you and Jenny having an adventure without me?"

"You could say that..." mutter Brad to himself. "No Tuck, Jenny's already gone, see?" he offered, opening the door for his little brother.

"Oh." said Tuck, "Well... then what were you doing in here, anyway?"

Brad looked around for an excuse, but drew a blank. Instead, he tried to quickly distract his brother, a tactic that had worked well in the past. "Oh, nothing Tuck... but hey, how would you like to go down to the arcade? I need some more practice driving the car, and I've got my whole allowance still to spend. Wanna come...?"

Tuck couldn't turn down an offer like that, so very soon the two of them were out the front door and on their way to the arcade. When everything had fallen silent, Tiff opened the closet door and stepped out. Wiping her sticky fingers off on Brad's discarded underwear and then tossing them back into the laundry pile, Tiff then confidently strode across the room and picked up the remote control that Jenny and Brad had both forgotten about. "Now, this thing is gonna be fun." she said aloud, "but when I tell Brit what I just saw, man that is gonna be good!"


	7. Chapter 7

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 7**_

"This is most definitely not good" stated Brit, matter-of-factly. "Not good at all..."

"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Brit?" asked Tiff, genuinely confused. She had assumed that any dirt on their nemesis XJ-9 would be a good thing to have. But Brit's mind normally worked on a whole different level then Tiff's, and she had come to trust her cousin's intellect more then her own.

Brit paced back and forth, thinking over the variables and formulating a plan. "This is just what always happens Tiff. We pick apart Jenny for being completely clueless about some aspect of teen life, then she comes back a few days later with some way to completely outdo us! It's like that fashion war fiasco all over again." Brit paused, tapping a slender finger on her pursed lips. "And from what you've told me, she's well on her way to outdoing us once again. She's already found a boy-toy of reasonable popularity and looks... and from what you said you saw...?"

"Yeah, she was screamin' and hollerin' like she her head was about to come flyin' off. I don't know about you, but I ain't found a man that could make **me** cum like that. Hell, even _I_ can't make me cum like that." Tiff frowned, crossing her arms over her chest, now understanding why her cousin was perturbed.

"No... neither have I..." said Brit thoughtfully."But perhaps we don't need to. If Brad Carbunkle is truly such a stud, his talents are quite wasted servicing a pile of chrome, don't you think?"

Tiff grinned, liking where this plan was going.

"And if Jenny's new beau dumps her for someone else, she won't have much to brag about anymore... especially some of us other girls have already had a sample ourselves." Brit concluded.

Tiff cackled, equally pleased with the chance to cause trouble as she was with the opportunity to fool around with Brad, whom she'd grown to appreciate since seeing him fucking Jenny the previous night. "So, you got a plan then?" She asked, eager to get started.

Brit smirked evilly, "Tiff, when am I ever without a plan?"

* * *

Ah, another day of school successfully completed, thought Jenny. She smiled happily, feeling like she was in a perpetually good mood today. And why shouldn't she be? Sheldon's life was saved (even if with a rather unexpected result) and it was a huge pressure off of her. Add on top of that the fact that she was in her first normal, weirdness-free teen relationship with a great guy like Brad, and Jenny felt like she could take on the planet. It felt like whatever petty stresses she faced during the day would just melt away after a round or two of lovemaking with Brad. No wonder humans spent so much time trying to have sex!

"Hey Jen!" called Brad, appearing from a classroom door and approaching Jenny as she walked down the hallway.

"Brad! How's it going? Wanna come over to see Sheldon with me?" Jenny answered, as Brad walked alongside her and gave her hand a quick, stealthy squeeze.

Brad shook his head, "nah, I've got football practice today. Since you quit the team I'm the star player again, and this team **needs** me. It should only take ninety minutes or so. Maybe I'll stop by after."

Jenny nodded. Then, after quickly looking around to make sure no one was looking, leaned over to give her boyfriend a peck on the cheek. "See you tonight then! Bye Brad!" she called, stepping out the front door of the school and rocketing off into the air.

Brad waved after her for a bit, then turned back into the school. Grabbing his gym bag from his locker, Brad reflected a bit on his friend Sheldon's situation. Even after he made a recovery, he was still stuck inside that robot body now. Yeesh... Brad had always said he'd trade places with Jenny any day, but that wasn't quite what he had meant. Brad always envied Jenny for her life as a super hero. As complicated as it could make things, he figured it would be more then worth it to have such an exciting life. But being in a robot body... was a life of adventure worth giving up your humanity? As these thoughts lingered in his head, Brad stepped into the locker room and was surprised at how quiet it was inside. Looking around inside he found it completely empty, even when he checked out the showers. Confused, he turned around to head back and was startled when he saw Brit Crust sitting on a bench with her legs crossed, looking straight at him. She wore a small khaki skirt that showed off her long, dark legs, and a tight yellow sweater that hugged her chest, emphasizing her curves enough that her breasts looked larger then average when compared to her small frame.

"Gk! ...sheesh, you scared me Brit. What are you doing in here anyway, this is the boys' changing room."

Brit casually examined her fingernails, acting unconcerned. "I required a chance to speak with you in private. So I arranged for the team's practice to be rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon instead. It's not a big deal really, and who cares if a girl is in here when there aren't any boys getting naked...?" Brit cocked an eyebrow suggestively.

Brad put down his gym bag, and leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed, looking sternly at Brit. Popular or not, Brad knew from Jenny's experiences with her that this girl could be trouble. "So what did you want to talk about?" asked Brad, thinking it best to get this over with. If she had gone to the effort of ambushing him like this, then it must be important.

"Well, it's come to my attention that you and the automaton have finally become an item. I must say I was surprised. I always thought you were capable of handling a real, live woman." Brit subtly batted her eyelashes. Brad was taken by surprise... he and Jenny had agreed to keep their relationship a secret for now, both to avoid teasing from Tuck and to dodge any hostilities from people not open-minded enough to accept the possibility of human/robot romance. How had Brit found out?

Seeming to sense his question, Brit explained. "Oh yes, Jenny is quite proud that she's managed to keep you all to herself. After all, having a stud like yourself on hand to 'oil her joints' has given her the popularity boost she's been craving for so long... and she **does** tell us how great you are in bed."

"Jenny said that...?" asked Brad, stunned. He didn't know if he should feel flattered or betrayed. Maybe both were appropriate, if Brit was telling the truth.

Brit smiled, continuing. "I guess it does explain why you never went after any of us girls who were sending you signals all the time. We were starting to think that perhaps you weren't interested in girls, but now we understand... you're just not interested in **human** girls." Brad was incensed, his very sexuality threatened. Sure he liked Jenny, but it's not like he was some kind of technophile ...like Sheldon. And before that the girls thought he was gay? That's totally unfair!

"What are you talking about, you girls never sent out signals." Brad accused.

Brit leaned back, propping herself up with her arms and puffing out her chest. "Of course we have been. Bradly... you can tell when girls are sending you signals, right?" Brit slowly, deliberately, uncrossed her legs, planting her raised foot on the bench. Brad could see right up her skirt, and what's more Brit knew full well exactly what she was showing.

" ...drafty?" Brad gulped hard, unable to take his eyes off of Brit's shaved pussy, displayed lewdly right in front of him. Brit's beautifully darkened skin grew lighter towards her inner thighs, and Brad was sure he could see a sliver of tender pink flesh visible between Brit's chubby outer labia.

Brit cleared her throat, forcing Brad to reluctantly make eye contact. "It's just such a shame though... now that you're going steady with Jenny, all of us single girls are being deprived. Your talents are being wasted on cold, hard metal... when they could be pleasuring hot... soft... flesh..." As she drew out each word, Brit's hand snaked down between her legs, gently touching herself, spreading open her pussy lips and revealing the tight pink hole within. Brad knew he probably looked like a total pervert, staring down at her bare crotch, but at the moment he was having a hard enough time keeping himself from whipping out his cock and beating off right there.

"Oh, maybe you _can_ understand when a girl is sending you signals..." said Brit, getting up and sauntering over to Brad, swaying her hips in an exaggerated manner. Brad looked down and saw what she was referring to: the front of his pants were tented up, doing little to hide his massive erection. Very quickly Brit closed the distance between them. Brad pushed himself back against the wall to try to escape her touch, but Brit pressed in close, her sweater-covered breasts pressing against his chest.

"What... w-what do you want, Brit?" asked Brad, his voice catching in his throat.

Brit looked up at him, her dark brown eyes sparkling. "I want you." She gasped, her voice a husky whisper, her right hand cupping the bulge in his pants and lightly massaging it. Brad was sweating from nerves and excitement.

"But I'm dating Jenny... I can't..." he meekly replied, before Brit silenced him by placing her left index finger over his lips.

"Shhhh..." she whispered, their faces close, "I just want a little taste... Jenny wouldn't mind that right? We wouldn't technically be having intercourse... I just want to feel your cream on my tongue... please?"

Brad was overwhelmed. Brit's hand was doing a skilled job at jacking him off through his pants, if he didn't answer soon he might just finish anyway. But Brit looked so desperate for him... maybe it would just be a good deed, and no one would ever even know, right? "Well, maybe bu..." Brit immediately silenced him with a kiss, thrusting her tongue into his mouth and holding it there with a hand placed on the back of his head.

When she broke away from it, Brit said "Just relax and enjoy... you won't regret this..." before sliding down the front of Brad's torso and unbuckling his pants with both hands, wasting no time in pulling his cock free from it's confines and kissing the spilled pre-cum off the tip. "Mmmm, it really is a beautiful cock Bradly." murmured Brit, licking up the length of the shaft before taking it into her mouth and slowly pushing it inside, working more and more past her lips.

At last Brit's lips reached the very base of Brad's shaft, the full length of his penis surrounded by the warm soft confines of her mouth and throat. Brit's hands reached up between his legs and started massaging and caressing his balls, and Brit made a satisfied hum. Brad felt himself already close to the brink. Brit must have an incredible control of her gag reflex to take him this deep. Then, Brit began swallowing over and over, her throat muscles undulating all around him. At the same time, he could feel her tongue stroking the underside of his shaft, sliding back and forth over it as though it were jacking him off inside her mouth. A slow bobbing of her head completed the treatment, her tightly wrapped lips sucking and stroking at his stiff dick. Brad had never felt anything like this! Brit was obviously a pro... whatever that said about her. Brad began loudly moaning as he felt the cum bubbling up inside him, preparing to shoot. Brit seemed to know exactly what was happening, because she pulled her face off his crotch until the head of his dick was resting right on her lower lip, pointed into her wide open mouth. Her hand pumped his saliva-coated dick, until Brad groaned and shot big gobs of semen into Brit's mouth.

As Brad caught his breath, Brit stood up in front of him, her open mouth displaying the load of cum she had milked from him. When she saw him watching, she noisily swallowed it all in one gulp. Brit leaned forward and pecked Brad on the tip of his nose, "Thanks." she said, grinning. "I don't suppose you'd like to return the favor now?"

Now that he had orgasmed, Brad felt quite a bit more level headed, the fog of lust having been cleared from his mind. By the same token, he also started to realize the full guilt of what he had just done... well, what he had allowed to happen. "No... no thanks Brit. That was great and all, but I really should get going now. Aheh... heh... see ya around!" Brad lamely excused himself, grabbing his gym bag and heading straight for the exit. Brit watched him go, amused, and said nothing until after he had left.

"All right, come on out now." Brit called.

"Just a second!" Tiff's voice called back, muffled and oddly strained.

"What?" said Brit, walking towards one of the lockers built into the wall, "What are you doing in there?"

Yanking the locker door open, Brit found Tiff with her hand shoved down the front of her shorts, the outline of her hand making it obvious that her fingers were stuffed up her pussy and pumping in and out. Brit frowned, and Tiff blushed. "Sorry..." she explained, grinning sheepishly. "It was pretty hot watching you blow 'im..."

"Whatever." said Brit, dismissively, "just as long as you got the pictures, right?"

"Yeah, right here." Tiff handed Brit the small camera she held in her other hand.

"Excellent..." purred Brit, an evil smile appearing on her face. "This'll be just the thing to make Jenny wish she'd never heard of sex. Ha! Maybe she'll drop out of school and go join a nunnery."

Tiff strained to smile, her face flushed as her hand went back to work between her legs. "Hey Brit, you got's somethin' on yer cheek." Brit felt her face with her hand, then wiped the offending bit of matter off with her finger. It seems she had let one of Brad's spurts miss the target, and it had clung to afterwords.

"Here Tiff, you look like you need this more then I." Brit offered, holding her fingertip out to her cousin, who eagerly licked up the little blob of semen.

Brit made a disgusted look, seeing Tiff masturbating openly in front of her. "You've been doing this a lot lately, watching people having sex. Are you developing some kind of fetish Tiff?"

Tiff grunted an affirmative, adding "yeah... I think I gots a problem cuz. Or maybe I just got the hots for that Brad kid."

Brit scoffed, turning up her nose and chortling. "Please. He's far too... middle class for a Crust." Brit shut the locker door on Tiff, leaving her to her self-pleasuring, and walked out of the changing room with her camera in hand.


	8. Chapter 8

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 8**_

" ...And that... is a wrap." quipped Jenny, using her robotic strength to bend a parking meter into a makeshift restraint, flexing it around the defeated Lonely Hearts Gang. The criminals groaned at her pun, managing to look even more miserable then they usually do, even while suffering from the injuries sustained during their brief battle with Jenny. "Hmm," thought Jenny to herself, "maybe I should ask my mom to give my humor an upgrade next. Even _I_ think that stunk." Nothing to do now but wait until the authorities arrived to pick them up, then Jenny could continue on to her meeting with Silver Shell... err, Sheldon.

"One of these days we'll turn the tables on you, you robotic heart-breaker!" whined the leader of the gang.

"Hey!" protested Jenny, insulted. "I'll have you know I'm in a very solid relationship with a boy now. You wouldn't know him." she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking indignant.

The gangster frowned, and countered with "sure, he's happy, but what about poor Sheldon, the boy you left behind?"

Jenny blanked, failing to come up with a response. She wondered how the Lonely Hearts gang would know about Sheldon, then remembered that they had been present back when Sheldon had first developed his crush on her. In fact, since it had been a heart-broken Sheldon that had saved her from the gang, the last thing they would've seen was a depressed Sheldon walking off alone...

But she had made it up to him, right? She had her mom fix his Captain Crush figurine, and install an anti-gravity propulsion device. Surely there were no hard feelings? Gah, she was just letting these criminals get to her! "Okay, that's enough out of you!" Jenny declared, extending a nozzle from her forearm and gluing the gangster's mouth shut with some epoxy foam. Seeing the flashing police lights approaching down the street, Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. Taking off, she was glad to be finished with them... the Lonely Hearts gang may not be the most dangerous villain she'd ever faced, but they were certainly the most depressing.

Flying home, Jenny let her mind wander, and found her thoughts returning to Sheldon. Had she really been... unfair to him? Certainly, her reason for not dating him wasn't valid, not anymore anyway. Jenny had originally told Sheldon she couldn't date him because she was looking for a robot boy... it had just been an excuse, of course, but it had worked. But now, by some quirk of fate, Sheldon **was** a robot boy. And, irony of ironies, Jenny was dating a human boy instead! Jenny frowned, guilt biting at her insides. She didn't mean to ever hurt Sheldon, but she could easily imagine how this situation could be anguish for him. She might not have wanted to date him, but Sheldon was still a trusted friend and she wouldn't ever wish that sort of torture on him. And having been in a situation like that herself with Don Prima, she had an idea what angst felt like.

And why hadn't she wanted to date him? If him being human was just an excuse the real reason was because... he was unpopular? Because he was somewhat unattractive? Because his interest in robotics made him a social outcast at school? Jenny was becoming uneasy with how closely her analysis was coming to describing herself. Despite saving the Earth (or at least Tremorton) on a regular basis, Jenny remained unpopular and largely outcast at school, and Sheldon and Brad seemed to be the only ones to find her physically appealing. More then once she'd been called "freaky", just as Sheldon often was.

And now she was dating Brad... attractive, well liked at school, even on the frickin' football team (as terrible as their team was). And before him, she had chased after Don Prima, who was even more popular, more attractive... Jenny was rapidly starting to feel disgusted with herself. Was she really that shallow? Was she was only interested in looks and a means of climbing the social ladder when selecting a boy? Normally she would've associated that sort of behavior with the Crust cousins, whom she certainly wasn't trying to emulate.

But she knew that wasn't true. She and Brad had real feelings for each other, she just knew it! Brad had always been a good friend to her, loyal, never thinking of her as "freaky" like the other kids at school. On the other hand... didn't Sheldon also have all those qualities? And even more... all those times Jenny needed help, Sheldon had been the one she turned to. When she wanted ears she could get pierced, when she needed help with her wardrobe to compete against the Crusts, all done completely of his own goodwill, without asking anything in return. He had even forgiven her for accidentally sending him into deep space! Jenny was beginning to feel very rotten about how she'd been treating Sheldon. But just suppose, hypothetically, she did a complete 180 and broke up with Brad and dated Sheldon instead... she wouldn't date him before, but now that his mind was inside the body of Silver Shell, she was okay with it? Jenny gritted her teeth, frustrated. No matter what she did, she'd come out looking shallow and superficial. Damn this complicated teen lifestyle of hers!

Well, she could at least start treating Sheldon nicer then she had been. After all, she was largely responsible for his current... condition. Jenny landed on the front lawn of Sheldon's house, and made her way inside. Her mother had already arranged her visits with Sheldon's parents, who were glad that their son was getting this extra care. And, considering his condition, Jenny and her mother were technically the most qualified people in the world to be looking after him. Jenny knocked on Sheldon's bedroom door, calling out "Sheldon, I'm here. Sorry I'm late." Jenny heard Sheldon's voice invite her in, and she noticed again how strains of Silver Shell's voice was mixed in with Sheldon's own. She realized the two tones were starting to merge into a single new voice, somewhere between the two original voices.

Jenny opened the door and stepped inside, seeing Silver Shell stretched out on Sheldon's old bed. The hulking frame of Sheldon's new body trying to fit onto the much too small bed was a comical sight, like seeing a tall man cramped into a very tiny automobile. Shell's legs stuck out stiffly over the edge of the bed, and poked out from under the blankets draped over him. Jenny suspected the blankets had been an attempt by Sheldon's mother at speeding his recovery, not realizing that Sheldon had no real need for them now.

"Hey Jenny." said Sheldon, sounding bored.

"Hey yourself. How're you feeling today big guy?" Jenny approached, taking a seat on the edge of Sheldon's bed, by his side.

Sheldon sighed, attempting to heave his chest as if he were letting out a deep breath. "Well, mostly bored. I haven't figured out how to turn my sleep cycle on and off yet, so I've been stuck awake since when your mom visited last night. Dad was nice enough to stay up reading comic books to me to keep me busy, but he dozed off this morning and mom went to work, so I've spent the last... 7 hours basically staring up at the ceiling and humming songs to myself."

Jenny chose not to comment, moving on to a sunnier topic. "Well, I'm here now, so we can start your physio-therapy as soon as you feel up to it. Have you tried moving on your own during the day?" Jenny asked.

"I've managed some. I can move my hands and arms around, though the elbow joints are kinda tricky. And I can stand up..." Sheldon grunted, and with some effort stuck his legs up into the air. "Oh cripes," he complained, "Jenny could you give me a hand?" Jenny smiled, glad to be useful. Taking Shell's hands in her own, she eased him into an upright position, his legs settling back onto the bed.

"Now lets see if I can teach you how to walk."

A couple of hours later, Jenny was seeing Sheldon making substantial progress. With some practice the two of them got all of his limbs and joints under his control, enough that Sheldon was capable of walking around and lifting objects with his hands. The last half hour they had used a mirror to help him make facial expressions, so that Silver Shell's face wouldn't be so emotionless all the time. Jenny found she was liking the role of teacher quite a lot, it was an entirely new experience for her. Perhaps when she graduated high school, she would look into a career in education.

With Sheldon regaining his confidence and almost functioning normally again, Jenny decided to try something different. Telling him to stand against one wall, Jenny walked to the opposite side of the room. "Okay Sheldon, now I want you to try to reach out your hands and touch mine, got it?" Sheldon took a step forward, before Jenny immediately stopped him. "No, I don't mean like that. From there. Reach over here to my hands." Jenny held out her hands, offering.

"What are you talking about Jenny? I can't reach you from all the way over here. My arms aren't long enough." Sheldon said, holding his arms out towards her to prove his point.

"You can Sheldon. Just... try to visualize your wrist joints unlocking, and your forearms stretching out like bubblegum." Sheldon gave her a skeptical look, then decided to give it a try anyway. He strained, then closed his eyes. For several seconds nothing happened aside from some clicking and whirring noises being made inside Silver Shell's arms. "That's it Sheldon... just relax and let it happen..." encouraged Jenny. Then, with a _clank_ sound from his wrists, Sheldon's hands disengaged from his forearms and began extending out towards Jenny, trailing a cord of white and silver cable leading back to his body.

"You got it!" exclaimed Jenny, holding Silver Shell's hands in her own when they reached her.

Sheldon opened his eyes, smiling proudly. "Wow, that wasn't so hard." he said, looking down at his disjointed arms. Closing his eyes for a moment, Sheldon tried again, this time extending his legs by stretching at the knee, then doing the same at his hips to stretch his torso up into the air, almost hitting his head on the ceiling.

Jenny smiled nervously, glad to see Sheldon doing so well but anxious as well. "Alright Sheldon, slow it down ok?" she pleaded. Sheldon stretched his head out from neck joint, showing off, moving his face in closer to Jenny.

Jenny let go of Silver Shell's hands, seeing a look of confusion growing on his face. "Jenny... what... I, I can't..." Sheldon's hands flailed around, trying to touch where his torso would be if it had been in place under his head. "Jenny, I can't feel my body!!" yelled Sheldon, his voice showing his panic. If he'd had lungs, Jenny was sure he'd be hyperventilating right now.

"Sheldon, calm down! Calm down!" she said, holding onto his head to keep it still, forcing him to keep eye contact with her. "All you have to do is retract your limbs. Just relax and concentrate, just focus on the reverse of what I said earlier." Sheldon's eyes remained wide, his head shaking in her grasp. "It's not working! Oh no, something is broken! Ah, ahhhhh! I'm gonna be stuck like this forever! Ahhhhh!"

"Hey! Shhhhhhh...! Don't freak out!" Jenny said insistently, desperate to calm Sheldon down before he overloaded himself or something. Firing her pigtail-jets, she took his head back to his torso and manually fed the extensor cable back into his neck-socket, returning it to it's normal spot on his body. Jenny repeated the same treatment for his arms and legs, soothing him with reassurances while Sheldon whimpered meekly. When his body was fully reassembled, she lead him back to his bed and helped him lie down. "Just relax, you've done enough for one day. I think your brain needs a chance to recuperate and adjust to all this." Sheldon frowned, looking miserable. "Don't be hard on yourself Sheldon... most humans can't readily remove their heads from their bodies, it's understandable that you'd get disoriented."

Sheldon turned his head to the side, looking away from Jenny's gaze. "It's not that," he stated, "it's all of this... it's very humiliating. Learning to walk all over again, it's like I've been reduced to an infant. And worst of all is having to relearn everything right in front of you, the girl I've been trying to get a date from for the past year and a half. I never wanted you to see me in such a pathetic state."

"I'm sorry Sheldon." said Jenny, dipping her head sadly.

"Well, it's not really your fault Jenny, it's just the situation that I'm..."

"No, that's not what I mean." Jenny interrupted. "I'm sorry for all the grief I've caused you. Since we first met, I mean. It hasn't been easy growing up in a world not intended for robot teenagers, and sometimes I think I took advantage of your feelings for me. And even more, I think I didn't really appreciate all the things you've done to help me, or even just appreciating the fact that you want to be my friend. So... I apologize. I hope you don't think I'm as shallow as I've acted sometimes in the past."

Sheldon smiled, touched. "Thanks Jenny. And I'm sorry for being so ...obsessive sometimes. I really just wanted you to like me, and I didn't know how to go about it. I guess that'll have to stop now though, since you've got a boyfriend."

Jenny smirked, raising an eyebrow. "That never stopped you before..." Sheldon returned the look.

"yeah, but it was different with Don Prima or Kenny... those guys are jerks. Brad is a friend of mine too, so... I wish you guys well." he said with some reluctance.

"Jenny?" he asked, after a moment of silence.

"Yeah Sheldon?".

Sheldon turned his head to the side, exposing the access panel at the back of his head. "Could you put me to sleep please?"

"Sure buddy." said Jenny, reaching inside and manipulating the sleep cycle controls. As an afterthought, Jenny turned the dream chip to a low setting, before closing the panel. Sheldon, of course, was unconscious as soon as she flipped the switch. It was funny, Jenny thought, to have an opportunity to see her crush the Silver Shell sleeping like this. Seeing no harm in it, Jenny leaned down and kissed his cheek before getting up and leaving for the night.

* * *

"Any nausea? Queasiness?" asked Mrs. Wakeman, scratching some notes onto her clipboard.

"Not normally." answered Sheldon, slouching against a workbench built into the basement wall of Wakeman's laboratory. After three days of regular checkups with Mrs. Wakeman and systems training with Jenny and Brad, Sheldon was almost completely in control of his body once again. He still needed someone to switch him into sleep mode at night, but Jenny and her mother assured him that would come to him eventually. Most likely, Mrs. Wakeman theorized, was that Sheldon's subconscious was having a tougher time coping to the change then his conscious mind was.

"Blurred or impaired vision?" asked Mrs. Wakeman.

"Just the same pixellated sight I've had since I moved into this body." Sheldon answered, his responses having become routine by now. No major complications had shown up during his recovery, he doubted very much that something unexpected would happen today, out of the blue.

Mrs. Wakeman checked off the final marker on her clipboard, satisfied that all the basic symptoms had been checked for. "Well Sheldon, I remain amazed that your mind has adapted to it's new body so rapidly, but here you are. I'm satisfied that you are out of the woods, so to speak."

Sheldon grinned, eager to get back to a semblance of his normal life. After being cooped up indoors this long, he even missed high school. Not that bullies would be much bother to him anymore... maybe this robot body deal wasn't so bad after all...

"Just one more thing." interjected Mrs. Wakeman, snapping on a pair of insulated rubber gloves, "I need to give your new body a final, once-over inspection. You mind has adapted well to your body, but we don't know what your body has had to do to adapt to hosting a human mind." Sheldon groaned at the additional time this would take. Still, he'd hate to have his head fall off someday just because he skipped out on his physical, so it was probably for the best.

"Just strip off your outer armoring so I can access all your service panels. I'll be back in a moment, I need to fetch a few tools." Mrs. Wakeman said cheerily. As much as this made Sheldon uncomfortable, she seemed to treat it as a routine tune-up. Sheldon supposed that after raising Jenny, she must be used to it by now. Still, this whole procedure was starting to remind him of a checkup at the doctor's office... something he had never enjoyed. Mrs. Wakeman left the room in search of her equipment, and Sheldon, sighing, began removing his outer armor plating, until he was as "naked" as his robot body could conceivably be.

Mrs. Wakeman soon returned, carrying an armful of power tools and futuristic scanning devices. Catching sight of Silver Shell's naked body, she froze in place, several of her tools loudly crashing to the ground."Sheldon... where did that component between your legs come from?!" she demanded, her eyes fixed on the metallic organ hanging from his crotch.

Sheldon didn't understand her alarm, replying "That's just the force-field device you had me install, remember? I picked it up a few hours before the accident. What's the big deal?"

Mrs. Wakeman groaned, putting her tools down and approaching Silver Shell. "That's not the force-field generator Sheldon. **That** is the force field generator." she indicated a funny looking component lying on a shelf on the other side of the room.

Sheldon frowned, puzzled. "Well, what is this thing then? I got it from the box labeled 'the project', I assumed it meant our Silver Shell refit project."

Mrs. Wakeman took Sheldon's limp protrusion in one hand, checking to see if it was installed correctly. "No, Sheldon... what you installed is the male portion of the XJ project. It's too long an explanation for me to get into right now, but to sum it up: you've given yourself a mechanical penis and testicles."

Sheldon felt a blend of relief mixed with confusion. The thought had occurred to him earlier that this new body was only man-shaped, and didn't truly have a gender. He had certainly **not** relished the idea of living out his existence as a eunuch, so the fact that he had rediscovered his lost manhood was practically cause for celebration. But at the same time, he **had** to wonder, what the heck was Mrs. Wakeman doing with a mechanical cock and balls hidden in her lab? For a brief moment he wondered if the new 'little Sheldon' had already seen more action then he had.

"Hmmm, well I wasn't really using the component for anything anyways. In a way, your mistake has actually saved me the work of having to create an entire second robot myself. Probably for the best to just let you keep it." said Mrs. Wakeman, much to Sheldon's delight. "Now I just need a sample of your nanites to analyze, and then we can get on with the rest of this physical."

"My what?" asked Sheldon, confused.

Mrs. Wakeman calmly explained, "The nanites being generated inside your umm, 'family jewels' are designed to carry the design specs of the robot they are being produced by. But since I've never had it attached to a robot before, I've never tested the nanites, and I don't know if they'll work successfully or not. So I just need you to provide a sample."

Seeing the helpless expression on Silver Shell's face, Nora Wakeman blushed and added "You know... just... stimulate yourself. As boys normally do. It's all designed to function as a parallel to the equivalent human anatomy." She handed him a little plastic cup for him to hold his "sample" in. "I'll leave the room, of course."

Sheldon prodded his newfound equipment, experimentally gripping and stroking it in a few different ways. It certainly wasn't like the one he was used to! Try as he might, the darned thing just didn't seem to want to respond. Funny, he'd never had this problem before... quite the opposite, Sheldon thought, remembering the times in class when he had to pray he wouldn't be called up to the board when his member decided to pitch a tent for no reason whatsoever. "Ah... this is kinda ... Mrs. Wakeman, I'm still really new to this body, and... well... To be honest I didn't have a lot of practice even with the old one."

Nora turned around to face Sheldon, having averted her eyes when he first attempted to play with himself. "You really can't figure it out?" questioned the elder scientist.

Sheldon shrugged. "Don't blame me, you built the thing."

Mrs. Wakeman approached the nude robot boy, taking his semi-erect penis in hand and stroking it experimentally. Despite having built this device herself, seeing it attached to the body of Silver Shell made it seem oddly foreign to her. "It seems to be installed correctly." She mumbled to herself, wondering how she could speed this process along.

Sheldon smiled, Nora's pumping hand giving him warm feelings of pleasure radiating out from his groin. "Oh, that feels just fine..." he half sighed, his cock growing to full erection under the scientist's skilled hand. Mrs. Wakeman smirked, reaching her left hand under to grope at the "scrotum" containing the nanite factories, which elicited a moan from Sheldon. It had been quite a number of years since she'd last done this to a man... it was nice to see she hadn't lost her touch. Though, this was all for science of course, she reminded herself, clearing the smile off her face and composing herself into her normal serious demeanor.

"Mrs. Wakeman, this feels great and all, but I don't think it's going to be enough." said Sheldon.

Mrs. Wakeman paused, hoping Sheldon wasn't about to ask her to perform anything more intimate. Manipulating him with her hands was one thing, but she had too much dignity to involve her body in this. Besides, Sheldon was her pupil, not to mention the huge age difference. It would be entirely too strange. "Well, what do you think is the problem?" she asked, dreading the answer she was expecting.

Sheldon replied "this is just to... clinical. Like a doctor's office or something. You wouldn't happen to have any pornographic magazines or anything...? from when you were younger maybe?"

Nora sighed in relief, thinking over Sheldon's suggestion. "No, I removed any hint of pornography from the house when I created Jenny. However, I think I might have something that you could use..." Mrs. Wakeman left Sheldon standing in the middle of her lab while she rummaged around elsewhere, looking for something. When she finally returned, she tossed Sheldon a handful of what looked to be technical papers and blueprints. Sheldon was confused at first, until he realized what they were... design specifications for the XJ9 robot's outer frame... essentially nude pictures of Jenny!

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Sheldon, his eyes drinking in each page. The poses weren't exactly suggestive or anything, but it wasn't hard for Sheldon to use his imagination. He groaned as he took hold of his cock again, and begin jerking off.

Sheldon didn't even bother to check if Mrs. Wakeman had left the room. His eyes were glued to the images in his hand. A naked picture of Jenny in the anatomical position, a close up of her bare chest that detailed how her nipples would grow "erect" to access her battery contacts. Next were images of her external reproductive systems... Jenny's bare pussy, Sheldon couldn't believe it! Seeing that she actually **had** these parts was making his own newly acquired cock and balls make a lot more sense. Sheldon shuffled to the next page, and found a file folder containing a series of polaroids, marked as "final construction of XJ9 robot, and initial test run." The photos featured Jenny newly activated, exploring her surroundings. Most were unimpressive, until Sheldon came upon a picture of Jenny on all fours, apparently curious about a lab mouse that had gotten free from it's cage. The angle allowed the camera to see right up Jenny's upturned skirt, displaying her lovely ass clothed only in some kind of mechanical thong.

Looking at this picture, Sheldon suddenly found his stroking fist to be too much stimulation for him. He let out a strangled "UNNhhhggg!!" from the pleasure crashing through him, catching him quite by surprise. Hurriedly Sheldon grabbed the plastic container, catching the rest of his spilling essence out into it. When the last echoes of his orgasm faded, Mrs. Wakeman stepped in to take the cup over to a nearby microscope.

Settling onto a stool and pouring out some of Sheldon's cum onto a slide, Mrs. Wakeman peered at his sample through her microscope. "Hmm, interesting." she murmured, more to herself then to Sheldon. "Well it appears you installed it correctly at least. I'm detecting the presence of newly constructed nanites suspended in the conductive nutrient syrup. I'll have to give them an electrical shock to see if they are 'swimmers' or not." Nora turned on her stool, looking back at Sheldon. "This could take a while... I think I'll finish your physical later, if you don't mind. You can go ahead and get dressed now."

Sheldon was happy enough with this answer. Hopefully he could put this off long enough that she might just forget about it altogether. This first portion had certainly been a pleasant surprise, but what would the rest of the exam be like? Suppose he had some kind of robotic prostate she needed to check? With a reflexive shudder at the thought, Sheldon donned the last of his clothing and left.

Heading outside, Sheldon couldn't manage to stop smiling. He had a dick again! He had never placed all that much importance on the organ before, but that was before he had thought he had permanently lost it. But now it was back, and all was right with the world. Somehow, it made him feel a little bit more human. Sheldon checked his internal clock, and realized school was out. Which meant Brad would be home, which meant he'd probably be willing to play video games for a few hours. Ah, it's great to be a teenage male!

Sheldon knocked on Brad's front door, and he saw Brad poke his head out of his bedroom window. "Shell, buddy! Just the guy I wanted to see. Come on up!" called out Brad. With some difficulty Sheldon crouched through the door and headed up.

"Sheldon: I. Am. A. Genius." stated Brad, excited. Sheldon just looked at him quizzically, hoping he would explain. "How would you like to make 3,000 for one afternoon's work?" began Brad. "Of course you would. Who wouldn't?" he continued, answering his own question. "Well, have I got a plan for you..." Brad held up a flier to Sheldon's face, that read "Annual Robotics Expo, this week!" Smirking, Brad added " ...partner."


	9. Chapter 9

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 9**_

Jenny sighed, extremely bored. She sat impassively on her stool in the center of her mother's booth at the Expo, fidgeting now and then to keep herself from drifting off into sleep mode. The whole Robotics Expo was just waiting out there for her to explore, but instead she had to sit here, on display for any potential investors that wanted a closer look at the "prototype."

It was a necessary evil, she knew, since it was this sort of funding that allowed her mother to build her in the first place, but still she didn't enjoy being prodded and examined all afternoon like some prize horse. The worst part was having people right next to you referring to you in the third person, as if you weren't right there, perfectly aware that they were talking about you. It really drove home the fact of how many humans still thought of robots as _things_, not as _people_. Jenny tried not to frown at the thought, knowing that she was here to make a good impression.

"Mom, can I take a break yet? I'm soooo bored, and I really want to go see how Brad and Sheldon are doing in the competition. Y'know, lend some moral support." said Jenny, after the latest curious patron had left their booth.

Mrs. Wakeman cast her daughter a sympathetic look, knowing how difficult these fund raising attempts could be for her. "Well" she said, "I suppose I could use a lunch break soon. Why don't we close down the booth in half an hour when the third-tier matches begin. I'll meet you at the arena after I grab something from the food court."

Jenny agreed instantly, eager for any chance to see her friends. Her mood brightened; her mother buying lunch would give her some time to wander around the expo a little on the way to the arena as well. On the way in she had spotted a booth advertising professionally done mod-work, and it had made her very curious about how she might look with a layer of chrome applied to her hair.

Jenny assumed her standard pose as another curious convention-goer was greeted by her mother. Jenny tried to remain attentive as the potential investor, a young fellow with thick glasses and bright red hair, spoke at length with her mother about Jenny's various systems and functions. As usual, Jenny's mind quickly went elsewhere, mulling over all the possible alterations she could look into at the modder's booth. Remembering the title of a television program on the subject, Jenny wondered if this would count as "Pimping Brad's Ride?" Jenny held up a hand to suppress a giggle.

Her mother and the investor approached her, now discussing the intricacies of her flight systems. "So then the thrusters in the robot's feet, head and wings all draw from the same fuel source? Wouldn't that deplete the fuel reserves rather quickly?" asked the man.

Her mother answered in turn, having rehearsed answers to the common questions ahead of time. "Normally it would, but remember that the thrusters are not used in supporting the weight of the robot, only in providing control and momentum during flight. And of course, when the reserves are eventually depleted, it's a simple matter to refuel through the fuel intake valve."

Jenny gulped, not liking where this conversation was headed. The man scratched at his chin, interested. "And where is this valve? Does the refueling process take long?"

Her mother, ever the saleswoman, did her best to play up the ease of the process. "Not at all! Why, the entire procedure takes less then five minutes, and requires no real disassembly whatsoever. I could demonstrate, if you'd like."

Jenny tensed up with anxiety, mentally praying the offer would be turned down. Unfortunately, the red-headed scientist was all too inquisitive. Mrs. Wakeman addressed Jenny in an authoritative tone, "XJ9, please ready your rear intake fuel line for a refueling."

Jenny blushed her standard azure blue across her cheeks, meekly pleading "...do I have to?" Nora frowned, fetching the fuel canister she had brought with them.

"Yes, XJ9. Right now."

Jenny pouted, her hands tugging at the hem of her skirt in an attempt to preserve her modesty. Her mother laughed nervously, rapidly feeling foolish for being unable to control her own robot in front of the investor.

"XJ9, what seems to be the problem?" inquired Nora, through a forced smile.

Jenny responded in a quiet voice "I... don't want the other robots to see my... intake port... It's embarrassing..."

The observing scientist raised a discerning eyebrow. "Does the robot have difficulties in understanding verbal commands...? Some colleagues of mine have a marvelous new voice recognition software that may help..." he offered, politely sidestepping the real issue.

The subtle suggestion was not lost on Mrs. Wakeman however, who was becoming desperate to show that she remained in control of the situation. "XJ9, do you want me to use an override command, young lady? The sooner you comply the sooner it will be over and done with. Now do as you're told and turn around!"

Jenny reluctantly did so, facing away from her mother and pulling up the back of her skirt, exposing her shapely bum. With one hand she tapped the quick release button on her thong, pulling the back of it away from her crotch and revealing her puckered intake port, nestled between her asscheeks. Jenny glanced out at the rest of the trade show floor, seeing that a couple robots in nearby booths had taken notice. A passing robot that looked like a white and blue trashcan mounted on two treaded legs stopped and gawked at her with it's one red eye. It made a few derogatory beeps and boops, and followed them with an electronic wolf whistle in Jenny's direction. Jenny's blush became a deep indigo, choosing to look down at the floor instead.

"A... novel place to construct the fuel valve." observed the scientist, attempting to mask his surprise.

"Yes, well, I was never one to waste space, and_ something_ had to go there, after all" said Jenny's mother,approaching with the fuel canister and pressing the nozzle against her entry port. "Ahhh! _Cold__!_" yelped Jenny, the thruster fuel spout pressing it's way into her. What she wouldn't give to be away from here right now, hanging out with Brad and Sheldon.

* * *

"3! ...2! ...1! ...Activate!" shouted the announcer, declaring the start of the next match.

Klaxons sounded and spotlights danced over the arena, building up the tension for the eager crowd. Amid much fanfare, Silver Shell stomped into the ring, flexing his servos for the audience and grinning despite himself. Taking a combat stance, Silver Shell took on a serious demeanor, ready to meet his opponent. The gate on the opposite side of the arena opened, spewed out a cloud of stage smoke, heralding the approach of the other contender.

A clunky rectangular robot not larger then an ottoman wheeled out, brandishing a pneumatic driven hammer attached onto it's top. Flame decals and a logo dubbing it "the beast" had been painted brightly on it's sides, and with a feeble whir of electronic rage as it's battle cry it charged forward. The front bumper of the robot crumpled as it slammed itself into Silver Shell's left foot, and the hammer clanged uselessly against his armored shin. Silver Shell sighed, once again disappointed with his competition. Sure, he had come to the expo assuming he'd win, but he had at least expected a _challenge_. Shell didn't even bother to bend over, instead merely pointing his arm at the tiny robot and rapidly extending his fist out from his wrist, crushing it beyond any hope of repair. The buzzer immediately announced him the winner, and Silver Shell walked back out into the contestant's lounge.

"Dude, nice job!" congratulated one of the other fighters, Kenny.

The robot teen approached Silver Shell, the two of them exchanging a high five. Shell smiled, congratulating Kenny right back for his last match.

When they had first met Sheldon had hated Kenny out of principle, simply because he happened to be dating Sheldon's love Jenny at the time. Now that he had gotten to know him Sheldon found that Kenny (or "YK9" as his father called him) was actually a pretty nice guy. Sheldon's new body and the Robot Expo had provided a convenient means of starting fresh, as Kenny had assumed they had never met before.

Sheldon felt no need to remind Kenny of his former state as a human nerd. Largely because he got the impression Kenny wanted to be friends because they were about the only two teenage robot guys around and felt a sense of kinship. Bringing up his previous identity might have also reminded Kenny of the role Sheldon had played in breaking up him and Jenny, which would've just been bad news for everyone involved.

"Wanna go check out some of the expo booths before the next round starts?" offered Silver Shell, hoping to get a look at some of the latest innovations in his favorite hobby.

"I would," frowned Kenny "but I think my Dad is gonna wanna give me another once over before the next match ups are announced."

Silver Shell shrugged at that, offering "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt on the outside chance that you and I have to fight next round. But other then that, are the other robots even worth the effort? Most are little better then lawnmowers with a wedge stuck on the front."

"Not all of them." Kenny corrected, "Have you seen that one girl robot? She's almost as tall as I am, and I saw one of her earlier matches... roasted the competition. Literally, I mean. Some kinda chemical-fire that she shoots out of her hands. She's definitely going to be a challenge for one of us... oh hey, there she goes now!"

Kenny pointed across the machine shop floor to a statuesque robot with a feminine build, her hourglass figure so well defined as to almost appear waspish. Her skin was a stark white that reminded Shell of Jenny's, and her clothing followed a dark green colour scheme, with black and silver trim in strategic locations. The strangest part of her appearance was a black and silver mask she wore covering everything below her eyes, lending her an air of mystique and drawing attention to her bewitching eyes, shaded to match the green of her clothing.

"Holy..." breathed Shell, staring at the mechanical beauty.

"Yeah, tell me about it." agreed Kenny, also blatantly ogling her as she passed by. "Did you see that chassis?!" he grinned, nudging Silver Shell with his elbow.

"Chassis? I was too busy checking out her 'forward arsenal', if you know what I mean. Damn, I'd love to check under **that** hood!"

Shell and Kenny shared a laugh, giving each other a playful punch on the arm. A meaningful cough ended their fun, as Brad approached alongside Kenny's "father", Phineas Mog. Each carried an ornate, but ultimately useless, radio control device.

"Here they are" observed Brad, stating the obvious. "I guess they've just been waiting here in standby mode for us after the last match."

Mog frowned, annoyed at the pretense he and the boy were forced to maintain. Each of them had broken the rules by entering a sentient robot into the competition. Each of them _knew_ the other had done so, as well. But if either "pilot" were to admit to it, the other could have them disqualified from the competition, removing the biggest obstacle between their robot and the prize money. So, they had no choice but to continue their charade.

"No time to dawdle, YK9. I want to give you another stress test, then give you a quick systems check." Mog raised his controller and tapped a half dozen commands for show, and Kenny followed behind his father after pointedly rolling his eyes.

Brad followed suit, loudly saying "I'll just command **my** robot to walk over to the oil vendor for a quick dipstick test..." mostly to ensure Sheldon did exactly the actions he described. Brad tapped a few buttons and wiggled the joystick and Silver Shell responded, sticking out his arms and walking to the oil bar with a zombie-like shuffle, subtly mocking his friend and the ridiculous pretense they were all forced to endure.

Once they were a safe distance from Kenny and his father, Brad spoke to Sheldon. "C'mon, don't act like that... you think I don't feel silly in the pilot's booth, pretending to operate you?"

Silver Shell huffed, not saying anything, but instead opening a can of oil and sipping at it. "Damn, this is better then the kind the Wakemans buy." he commented.

"Don't let mom hear you say that." replied Jenny, walking over from the side and sitting down between Brad and Silver Shell.

"Hey, Jenny!" they both greeted, Brad leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Hi guys. Thought I'd drop in to see how you're doing and wish you luck. How is the opposition stacking up so far?"

Brad and Sheldon both pointed across the room to a growing pile of broken and crushed robots, just in time to observe Silver Shell's latest victory being tossed on top of the heap.

"Oh." said Jenny, "ah, no pun intended."

Brad shifted the conversation to Jenny, asking "So your mom let you take a break from being on display?"

Jenny shifted uncomfortably on her seat, making a small frown. "Eventually."

Before either teenage boy could comment, the speaker system came on and began announcing the next matches. "I guess I got here just in time." observed Jenny.

"Next in the ring will be... YK9! ... versus... the Silver Shell!" came the announcer.

Sheldon grimaced. He had been hoping they wouldn't have to eliminate each other this early on, if they'd been lucky they might've even made it to the finals, and been the last combat of the day. But, it was a random draw, and they had to deal with what they'd been given.

"YK9... why does that sound familiar?" asked Jenny, " ...waitaminute, Kenny? You're fighting my old boyfriend?"

Sheldon stood up and crumpled the remains of the oil can, tossing it into the trash. Jenny stood behind Sheldon and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him pause. "I thought this was supposed to be easy Sheldon. Kenny's based on my schematics, you can't beat him! He's as fast and strong as I am!"

Sheldon smirked, giving Jenny a knowing look. "And what makes you so sure I couldn't beat you, Jenny?" Jenny didn't have a response, and watched as Silver Shell walked off towards the arena entrance, giving her a wave and a smile before disappearing inside.

Jenny looked to Brad, who only shrugged. "C'mon Jenny, you can join me in the pilot's booth. Definitely the best seat in the house."

Jenny followed Brad inside the booth, looking out through the glass pane to see the arena floor below. It was really more of a stage, trussed up with "obstacles" and "traps" that were really more for show then anything else, the better to give the illusion of actual gladiatorial combat. Beside her Brad was engaged in trash talking the competition.

"Your robot is going down, Mog! Silver Shell's gonna wipe the floor with him!"

Phineas Mog, undeterred, met the challenge in kind. "Bah! Silver _scrap_ is more like it, when YK9 is through with him! They'll be picking pieces of your droid off the floor for days!"

Jenny wrung her hands, suddenly worried for her friend. Despite his confidence, this really **was** Sheldon's first real taste of battle. The period of time since his recovery suddenly seemed very short to Jenny. Who knows what could happen if Shell took one to many blows to the head? The transfer into his new body was still potentially shaky, even her mother didn't completely understand how he had managed to recover so quickly.

"Brad, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. We should quit and get Sheldon out of there before he gets hurt."

"Ha!" laughed Mog, "Even the robot girl knows it! Better run home now, boy!"

Brad ignored him, turning to Jenny and speaking in a hushed tone. "Jenny, he'll be fine. You're just overly protective because you helped nurse him back to health. It's too late now anyway, look, they're entering the ring."

Below, in the arena, Silver Shell and Kenny stepped into view on opposite sides of the room. The crowd's cheering fell silent when the buzzer sounded, and the fight began. The robot combatants slowly circled each other, their fists raised and ready to strike.

"What's the matter boy? Your robot seems afraid to approach mine." sneered Mog.

Brad grinned back, replying "He's just sizing your robot up, looking for your weakness. Picking the right moment to strike!"

The two robots cautiously approached each other, neither moving to attack. Watching closely through telescopic optics, Jenny could see their mouths moving, talking.

"Aheh..." stammered Brad, covering, "I've decided to begin by having my robot taunt yours, Mog. It will make your defeat all the more shameful."

Phineas Mog looked down at his robot, frustrated. "Clearly my robot is choosing to display it's superior skills of repartee, proving that YK9 is both the smarter _and_ stronger robot."

Jenny's worry was replaced by curiosity. Clearly this wasn't going how Brad and Mog had planned. Below, Kenny and Silver Shell were shaking hands, then... it looked like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors?

"Rock! I win!" exclaimed Mog triumphantly. "Once again your piloting skills prove no match for my superior battle strategies!"

Brad ignored him, watching the "battle" unfold below, forgetting to even tap buttons on his radio controller anymore. Silver Shell threw a slow, clumsy punch at Kenny. Somehow though, it connected with Kenny's chin, and sent him reeling. Kenny sprung back at Shell, charging at his front, stopping just in front of him, then knocking them both over with a gentle tackle. Silver Shell stood up, hoisting Kenny over his head and spinning him as if he were a wad of pizza dough. Jenny smiled, suddenly understanding; they were putting on a show, faking the whole fight!

"Ha, take that old man!" shouted Brad, as Silver Shell landed a quick flurry of "punches" on Kenny's chest. Kenny recovered with a surprise uppercut, Silver Shell's head extending upwards as though he were a giant-sized "rock'em sock'em robot." Jenny giggled, amused at the antics of her ex boyfriend and her ... other friend. She was surprised, she had never seen this side of Sheldon's personality before. He'd tried telling her jokes before of course, but his nervousness had always ruined them, rushing through the joke and turning it into a burst of stuttering and forced laughter. Since he'd been uploaded into Silver Shell's body, Jenny had been sensing a newfound confidence that hadn't been there before. Or maybe she was just finally seeing it for the first time. Jenny's smile widened, watching Silver Shell intently.

The fight seemed to be wrapping up. Kenny held Silver Shell by the cuff of his neck, winding up his right arm for a Popeye-esque finish. Silver Shell made no move to defend himself, pretending to be dazed, and then Kenny's punch landed with a loud metallic clang like that of a gong being struck. Silver Shell's thrusters fired, sending him flying across the arena and crashing into the opposing wall. As he dropped to the ground his arms and legs limply extended out from his body on the thin connecting cables, making it look as though his entire body had fallen to pieces.

The victory buzzer sounded, and Kenny performed a shameless victory dance. Brad cursed his loss as Mog mirrored Kenny's dance in the pilot's booth. Jenny put her arm around Brad, not really saddened by the result at all.

"Buck up Brad. There's always next year."

Brad didn't seem to hear her, lamenting. Kenny walked out of the arena and Sheldon remained toppled on the floor, awaiting someone to come "repair" him. "there goes my shot at the prize money..." muttered Brad, watching Kenny go.

Jenny was just turning to walk Brad out of the booth, when an explosion sounded from the audience bleachers.

Jenny immediately sprung into action, instinct and programming kicking in. A quick punch broke a hole through the glass of the pilot's booth, allowing her to dive through it and into the audience below. She activated her flight jets in mid-fall, seamlessly converting her dive into a graceful swoop. Her sensors swept through the crowd, though anyone with eyes could have spotted the massive hole in the wall that the explosion had created. As the smoke cleared, a couple dozen small figures marched through the opening and into the stadium.

"XJ9!" the lead figure called out. "You are to accompany us back to the planet of Cluster Prime, on order of Queen Vexus!"

Jenny scoffed. She should have known something like this might happen. Vexus had crashed last year's convention, so it followed that she had some way of determining when and where they were scheduled to happen. Ah well, these Cluster stooges didn't look so tough... at least Vexus herself hadn't shown up this time, that would've actually been a threat.

"And just what does her highness have in mind for me this time, hmm?" challenged Jenny, landing in front of the Cluster soldiers with her hands on her hips.

There were a handful of the little beetle like drones amassed, brandishing small rifle-like firearms, commanded by a humanoid robot that reminded her of her onetime foe Smitus. The leader pulled out an ornate scroll, declaring "Queen Vexus' son Brutus has come of age to assume his place as successor, and requires a new Queen to legitimize his rule. XJ-9 has been selected as his ideal mate, and shall summarily proceed directly to the flagship of the Cluster fleet to prepare for her wedding!"

Jenny reeled. So **that's** why Vexus had been trying to get her to join the Cluster... she was being groomed as her replacement! "No way will I ever join the Cluster!" shouted Jenny, partly out of reflex.

"Very well then. Seize her!" shouted the Cluster commander, the drones immediately rushing at Jenny.

She easily dodged and blocked their attacks, though their pronouncement had shaken her enough to put her on the defensive. Their commander looked on passively, gaging the effectiveness of his troops. A few of the insectoid drones leaped up onto Jenny, clinging to her arms and legs.

Sheldon couldn't watch anymore, having pulled his arms and legs into their proper places and picked himself up off the ground. He knew Jenny was an experienced superhero and all, but he couldn't just stand there and watch her get shot at, could he? Silver Shell kicked down the fence separating the combat arena from the audience bleachers, rushing towards Jenny and the cluster robots.

Jenny was fighting them off with little difficulty, her strength was far superior and their blasters had little effect against her armored skin. Distracted as she was with dealing with the little bugs, Jenny was oblivious to the commander pulling out a large cannon like gun, and leveling it straight at her.

"Jenny, look out!" Sheldon yelled, preparing to dive to push Jenny out of the way, or intercept the blast, or something, he would take what he could get.

Suddenly, Sheldon felt a pair of hands grab onto him from behind, and yank him backwards. "Hey, what?!" he stammered, taken by surprise.

He was thrown roughly against an adjacent wall, his assailant leaping on top of him and pulling out a section of bleachers, holding it up in front of them as a shield. Sheldon could just barely spot Jenny from around the edge of the makeshift barrier. He called out to her as she was struck by a bright green bolt of energy fired from the Cluster commander's cannon.

Jenny froze, then slumped to the ground. The Cluster drones she'd been wrestling with dropped off of her limp form, falling to the the ground as paralyzed as she was. The Cluster commander barked out orders to a group of new drones arriving through the hole they had blasted in the wall, who proceeded to collect Jenny's body and drag her off outside.

Sheldon threw his rescuer aside, chasing Jenny's kidnappers. He reached the hole in the wall just in time to see the Cluster ship outside blasting off. In a desperate move, Sheldon launched his hands out from his wrists, extending his arms out to clutch at the ship's hull before it got away. Sheldon reached... and missed. The Cluster ship flew off into the sky, leaving Silver Shell far behind. Sheldon slumped to the ground, defeated.

"Don't give up hope just yet." Came a female voice from behind him, a slender hand touching his shoulder. Sheldon looked up, recognizing the female robot from the tournament that Kenny had pointed out. She pulled the mask from her face, revealing a dainty mouth and chin. "My name is Nexus. I can help."


	10. Chapter 10

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 10**_

"Uhhh... mmmhhh... whaaa...?" groaned Jenny, her eyes slowly opening and vision clearing as she regained consciousness. Jenny blinked twice, looking up at the bright lights shining down on her from the ceiling.

Where was she? She could tell she was strapped down on a table of some kind... testing her limbs she found she couldn't move, either she was being held down, paralyzed, or some combination of the two. Jenny's memories came rushing back as her brain did a quick self-clean, taking away the last of the fog in her mind. She had been attacked at the convention, hit by some kind of paralysis beam. From the looks of things, she'd been taken captive. Bummer.

A small insect-like face popped into her field of view, looking down from just above her. It's mandibles did their best to smile, and the little bug greeted her happily. "Oh, good, you're awake!" it said in a squeaky, mechanized voice. "Very sorry about all that, but the prince really doesn't like to be kept waiting. We'll be docking with the mothership shortly though, so you'll get to meet him very soon. Oooh, you must be so excited!" the little cluster drone positively gushed, almost giddy.

Jenny managed to lift her head up, and saw a dozen or so more of the little drones skittering about, busying themselves with the operation of the ship. "Where am I, anyway?" asked Jenny.

The first little bug hopped off of Jenny's table and headed for another group of drones, answering "You're aboard the Cluster cruiser_ Thoptera_, specially commissioned for the retrieval of alien robots from foreign systems. We're still inside your home system however, closing in on the orbit of the fifth planet from your star. We're due to rendezvous with the Queen aboard her ship, _Cluster One_, in about 30 minutes." The drone chirped something to the huddled group of its identical companions, and they all approached Jenny, brandishing strange tools of every description. Just as she braced herself to experience an alien dissection, Jenny felt the table she was strapped to swivel around, raising her to a standing position and releasing her arms and legs from their bonds.

Jenny was quite confused. "Wait... I thought this was the part where you were gonna probe me?"

The gathered insects shared a laugh. "No no... you misunderstand. We're not scientists... we're tailors!" The robotic bugs then swarmed towards Jenny, using their instruments to measure and record all of her various dimensions, arm length to bust size to waist diameter to leg length.

Jenny yelped when one of the drones scampered up her leg, poking it's head up her skirt in an attempt to measure her in-seam. Jenny quickly yanked that one out from between her thighs, "That part you'll just have to guess, ok?!"

Jenny caught herself, coming to her senses. Fashion was fun and all, but this was still a Cluster ship that had taken her prisoner. "Thanks anyway guys, but if I want a new dress I'll just see what's at the mall, thanks." Jenny raised her arms and extended her speed boosting "wings" from her back, preparing to tear a hole in the hull on her way out. It'd be a long flight home, but she was confident she would make it eventually, or at least to the human settlement on Mars where she could refuel or arrange transport. Disappointingly, nothing happened. Jenny checked her fuel systems... still full, thanks to her regretful demonstration at the Expo. "You're probably wondering why you're unable to fly." one of the bugs chimed in, "You're still suffering the effects of the electro-magnetic shock you took. You'll recover eventually, of course. The fact that you're up and walking right now is a testament to your creator, really. But you won't be able to access your flight or combat systems for some time still."

Unbelieving, Jenny attempted to extend a giant hammer from her forearm... but the bug was right. A useless grinding and whirring of metal was all that rewarded Jenny's efforts, leaving her arms feeling tired but still in their basic human configuration. Growing increasingly desperate, Jenny shoved a few of the drones aside and dashed for the nearest exit. Right on cue, a thuggish humanoid Cluster warrior stepped forward, blocking her path with a pole-arm. Jenny's suddenly human strength simply wasn't up to the task, and he easily pushed her back into the room with the tailors.

"We're sorry about the brutish methods dear, but the military felt it was needed. Come on, you'll feel better about it once we get your nails painted." The lead drone took Jenny gently by the hand and lead her over to a comfortable looking couch. Jenny sighed, not seeing any other options right now.

"If you could please remove your boots... we have several pairs of shoes we'd like you to try on." requested another of the bugs.

Well, she may be captive, but there could be worse ways to spend the voyage. Jenny allowed herself a small smile, seeing a full display of shoes being wheeled in for her to try on. "Why are you guys being so nice to me?" Jenny inquired. "I mean, I'm your captive. You don't have to convince me to stay here by choice."

The drones looked at each other, then back at Jenny. "The rumor is that you've been selected as the mate to be of Prince Brutus. When you're wed you'll become a princess, so... we're hoping that you don't forget about the little people who knew you before you were royalty."

* * *

"There, finished." declared Nora Wakeman, sealing shut the access panel in Silver Shell's lower back. Shell picked up his torso armor and began slipping it back on, even as Mrs. Wakeman continued; "Again, it has not been field tested. And even if it does work, expect to experience a massive power drain on your systems. I wouldn't recommend using it for more then 20 seconds at a time, tops."

Silver Shell nodded, understanding. "It's still better then nothing. Thanks, Mrs. Wakeman."

The diminutive scientist smiled back at her protege. "Please Sheldon... I think you've known me long enough to call me Nora."

The two of them headed for the back yard of the Wakeman residence, where Brad, Tuck, and their new ally Nexus were waiting. Tuck was helping Brad strap on the last of a the technology they were borrowing from Mrs. Wakeman for the occasion. The jet pack Jenny had once let him borrow, a collection of sporting equipment and sheet metal serving as makeshift armor, and a pair of sidearms that Mrs. Wakeman said fired "electrodyte pellets", delivering a static shock on impact meant to disable electronics. While outfitting themselves for the rescue attempt, Nexus had been bringing them up to speed on the Cluster's plan.

"So if your brother Brutus needs a bride, why come kidnap Jenny? It's an awfully long way to go to pick up a girlfriend. Wouldn't a Cluster girl have done just as well?" asked Brad.

Nexus leaned back against her ship's hull, explaining, "The problem is that the Cluster hierarchy has become genetically stagnant, and slightly... inbred, I'm sad to say. It's the same pitfall that most elitist royalties succumb to. The royal house is starting to degenerate... My mother Vexus is more then a little crazy, my brother Brutus has some physical misconstructions..." she trailed off.

"And you?" asked Brad.

"Well, I did abandon my society to start a rebellion against the whole Cluster. I'm sure that makes me some kind of insane."

Brad and Tuck exchanged a suspicious glance, but allowed Nexus to continue.

"There was a time when the Cluster's reach stretched over a third of the galaxy. But the royal house is failing, our personal dementias causing infighting and petty power struggles, and leaving our subjects lacking the leadership they deserve. Vexus doesn't want to admit it, but she knows that her empire is crumbling. Races that once fell easily against our military now openly revolt, raids from the Yugopotamians are decimating former Cluster strongholds, even our alliance with the Irkens seems about to fall apart." Tuck looked to Brad for some kind of clarification, but his brother could only shrug, equally as clueless about the various alien races that Nexus casually mentioned. "The only hope of the Cluster royal house is to bring some 'new blood' into the family. Vexus hopes that by marrying XJ-9 to Brutus, that they will produce a generation of strong, capable leaders that she can use to bring back the Cluster's golden age, and eventually turn over control to."

"So if Jenny staying kidnapped will bring about a new golden age for the Cluster, why are you helping us stop it?" asked Silver Shell, walking up alongside Mrs. Wakeman.

Brad spoke up in Nexus' defense. "She already explained that part... Nexus here is the black sheep of the family. She disagrees with the Cluster's policy of using organic life forms as slave labor, so she ran away from home and started a rebellion with other organic-life-sympathizers."

Nexus remained silent, meeting Sheldon's suspicious gaze.

"Alright." Sheldon relented, "We have no choice but to trust her anyway. Her ship is the only chance we have of rescuing Jenny in time."

Nexus sneered, adding "Not to mention the fact that I saved you once already. If I hadn't pulled you clear, you'd be as captured as XJ9 is now."

"If everything is ready..." broke in Mrs. Wakeman, defusing the tension between Nexus and Sheldon before it got out of hand, "I'd really like to see my daughter back here as soon as possible."

Brad nodded, agreeing. He took the lead, walking up the ramp into Nexus' ship, calling out behind him "C'mon gang, we've got a wedding to crash."

* * *

Jenny clenched her hands nervously, walking through one of the hundreds of corridors that made up the Cluster mothership, _Cluster One_. She was escorted by a pair of burly Cluster centurions, though they weren't there so much to prevent her escape (weakened and powerless as she was) then to keep the many interested Cluster citizens at bay. And wearing what she was, Jenny had become quite something to look at. The tailor drones had insisted that she wear the dress they had prepared for her, and they had been so nice to her that she found herself unable to say no to them. It really was a stunning dress, too, a delicate blue and gold number made of some fragile fabric Jenny was not familiar with, but it felt vaguely consistent with tissue paper.

Jenny was lead to the private V.I.P. chambers, and ushered inside. The doors snapped shut behind her, and Jenny found herself alone in a room covered in vaguely Victorian looking finery, lit by soft, flickering lighting as though from some unseen candles. Some soft, unearthly music drifted in from somewhere, and Jenny couldn't help but feel like she had just stepped onto the cover of a cheap Harlequin romance novel. Jenny cautiously made her way further into the room, looking around at the fine art that pervaded every part of the room.

"Welcome, XJ-9..." came a familiar feminine voice. Jenny pivoted, spotting Queen Vexus herself emerging from the shadows and stepping into the light. Vexus leered, a confident grin on her face.

"Vexus." stated Jenny, hostility in her voice. Of all the villains she had ever faced, none had been as persistent or as dangerous as Vexus, Queen of the Cluster.

"Nice to see you too." she answered curtly, baring her teeth with her grin. "But we've already met. I'm here to introduce you to my son, Brutus. Oh, Brutus!" she called out. Jenny heard a heavy footfall herald the approach of a hulking, menacing figure. From behind a dark curtain came a huge robot, easily twice as large as Jenny, and with a frame like a linebacker. The robot was constructed of black metal, decorated with spikes sprouting from his shoulders and wrists, and heavy chains encircling his waist and neck. His face features two large insectoid mandibles, making him look more like one of the beetle-like drones then like the more human-looking Vexus.

"Th-that's Brutus...?" asked Jenny nervously, the ugly brute easily living up to his name.

"No, that's just his bodyguard." answered Vexus.

From behind the massive guard stepped a shrimpy little robot, physically quite reminiscent of Tuck. "I, am Brutus!" announced the tiny robot in a weak nasal voice, puffing out his chest and grinning broadly.

Jenny burst out laughing. She couldn't help it, despite her precarious situation. Such a menacing name affixed to such a scrawny little wimp as this, and then acting all proud of it... it was like when people name their chihuahua "Herculese" or when a huge wrestler goes by the name "Tiny". Jenny pointed a finger at Brutus and held her sides with her other arm, unable to control herself enough to form a sentence. The bodyguard scowled but said nothing, and Vexus merely rolled her eyes. Brutus, on the other hand, was steaming mad. His face turned red with heat, his teeth clenched, and his fists shook with impotent rage. "Stop laughing at me!!" he screamed, almost hopping into the air.

"Mother, she's making fun of me!" whined Brutus.

Vexus frowned at her son, but addressed XJ9, "Laugh if you'd like, but soon enough you'll be married to my son here." That instantly sobered Jenny up. Vexus grinned confidently, and Brutus regained some of his composure, leering at the robot girl.

"You've got to be joking, right? I mean, I'm guessing, but I'd say Brutus is about half my age, am I right?" asked Jenny.

"I'm old enough to teach you some respect!" shouted Brutus, his voice cracking mid-sentence and totally destroying any menace in his threat.

Vexus ignored him, "You're right, he is still quite young. Undoubtedly, I will be forced to retain control of the Cluster throne for another 10 years or so, at least. But that will be plenty of time for you two to produce a handful of legitimate heirs for me, and for that purpose he is just old enough, believe me."

"Speaking of which, I suppose I'd better leave to let you two better acquaint yourselves, and get started on my grandchildren. Are you going to be ok without mommy here, Brutus?" asked Vexus, leaning down to pinch her son's cheek and baby-talk him.

"Yes mom." he said "if anything comes up I'll just tell the guard."

Vexus smiled and left, smirking at XJ9. "That's my boy. I'm off to oversee the wedding preparations for tomorrow, so you two have fun now!" she called as she left, the bodyguard following close behind.

"Sure will!" answered Brutus, reaching up to smack Jenny on her ass and continuing to gawk up at his new prize.

The instant Vexus had left the room, Jenny turned on Brutus, glowering down at him, and seizing him by the wrist. "That's enough of **that**, pipsqueak. I don't know what kind of perverted pubescent wet-dreams you've been having about me, but you can just shove them up your exhaust pipe anyway. I've already **got** a boyfriend, and he's ten times the man you are." Jenny momentarily considered how much Brad weighed in comparison to Brutus, adding, " ...literally."

"But... but mommy said I was gonna lose my virginity now. You can't..." whined Brutus.

Jenny pushed him down, letting go of his wrist and letting him land on his backside. "I can and I will. Just because I've temporarily lost my combat systems doesn't mean I'm just going to go along with all of this. As soon as I get my strength back I am **out** of here. As if a little shrimp like you could even satisfy me anyway..." Jenny folded her arms and looked down at the tiny Cluster prince, who looked like he was about to burst into tears. Good... if Jenny could successfully intimidate Vexus' son, maybe she could stall for enough time to shake off the effects of the EM shock. "You don't even know the first thing about sex with a girl, do you?"

Brutus was almost throwing a fit. "**I do so!** I'm an adult now! I just gotta stick it into your hole and make you pregnant!"

Jenny scoffed, trying to make Brutus feel clueless. "Well, duh. But that's only the very end. To do it right you have to follow the rules of dating. Didn't anyone ever teach you? You've got to get the girl some flowers and chocolates, then buy her presents, and give her a nice long foot rub..." Jenny tapped a finger against her lips, thinking up anything else she might like to pass the time with while her systems recuperated. "Hmmm, I don't suppose this ship has a movie theater? **Every** couple needs at least one movie date."

Brutus was having none of this. "Guards!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, and instantly a pair of soldiers appeared through the doorway, seizing Jenny by either arm. "My new girlfriend isn't doing as she's told!" he complained. "Take her someplace quiet, and teach her how to show her man the proper respect! You have my full royal pardon to take whatever steps you need to. Maybe after she experiences my bad side, she'll learn the benefits of keeping me happy!" Jenny struggled to free herself from the guards' grip, but to no avail. Her intimidation plan had backfired... she had asked too much, and Brutus had lashed out against her instead of attempting to satisfy her as she had hoped. As the guards dragged her away, Jenny wondered what fate she had just earned herself. But really, how much worse could it be then spending her time being hit on by a lusty spoiled brat?

The guards shoved Jenny into a prison cell of some kind, all of the former reverence for their future princess gone. The door clanked shut behind them, sealing Jenny in... the room looked more akin to an animal cage then a prison cell. Jenny turned in place, scanning the room for any kind of advantage or potential exit. She may not have any super powers, but she could still put up some kind of a fight! The guards laughed evilly, advancing on her with lustful gleams in their eyes.

Though she tried to run, her systems were still recovering from the damage she had sustained earlier, and Jenny was no challenge for them. One seized her by the shoulders, pinning her arms behind her and holding her in place. The second approached her from the front, easily blocking Jenny's attempted kick.

"The prince says we're supposed to teach you some manners..." taunted the guard in front. "And we know how to break in disobedient little bitches, don't we?"

Jenny wanted to unload every missile and laser in her arsenal on this guy, but she was helpless to resist him. She could feel the guard behind her groping her backside with his free hand, but the best she could do was try to ignore it and pretend it wasn't happening. The guard in front surprised her by shoving his face against hers, kissing her roughly and thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Jenny resisted the only way she could... she bit down on the invading tongue, causing the guard to pull back and howl in pain.

"This girl **really** needs to be shown who's boss around here!" the wounded guard said, seizing Jenny by the shoulders and throwing her against the closest wall.

Jenny leaned on the wall to pull herself up from the ground, trying to hold back tears. She'd been hurt in fights before, even suffered some bad beatings, but... she'd never been helpless to defend herself. Physically she was barely hurt, but emotionally she was coming to realize that she was utterly at the mercy of these two thugs.

The first guard approached her again, leaning his arms on either side of her to cut off any avenue of retreat. "Now see what you made me do? You bit my tongue, so I had to hit you. You don't want me to have to keep hitting you, do you?" Meekly Jenny shook her head no. "Good. Tell you what: how about if you show me your tits right now, I'll let you go."

Jenny couldn't believe her ears. "W... what did you say?" she stammered, unbelieving. The guards' face became angry. Before she even saw it coming, his hand lashed out to slap her across the face.

Once again, the physical pain wasn't so bad... just a light stinging... but it was so humiliating to be degraded like this. Jenny started to cry, tears running down her cheeks. "Don't gimme that!" stated the guard, raising his hand for another strike, "Now... are you going to do what I say, or are we going to have to repeat this lesson?"

Jenny tried to bring her tears under control, sniffling, looking up at the guards' harsh face. "Don't hit me..." she pleaded.

The guard smiled then, "Just do what I say, and we won't have a problem."

Hesitantly, Jenny reached up to the collar of her dress, and slowly pulled it down over her shoulders and off her arms, then sliding it down her torso until her light blue nipples came into view. The guards ogled her exposed chest, and Jenny cast her eyes downward to try to hide the shame she felt. The guard in front of her reached out a hand to tug on her nipple, pulling it out into it's erect length, teasing it roughly. Jenny said nothing and allowed it to happen, for fear of being slapped again. "What a little slut." taunted the guard, speaking to the second one, "I didn't even touch her other nipple, but it just got all stiff too!" The second guard laughed, adding "I bet she's really liking all this... check to see how wet she is!"

Jenny moved to shield herself, crying out "No!" as the guard reached a hand for her crotch.

"You just don't learn, do you?" jeered the guard, pushing Jenny hard against the wall. Jenny renewed her struggle, kicking and clawing at the guard as he pushed his way closer to Jenny, forcing himself between her legs to keep them spread apart. The guard yanked up her dress, tearing it in the process, bunching it up around her waist and exposing her thong. With casual ease the Cluster warrior grabbed hold of her last remaining defense and tore the underwear from her, letting it fall to the ground behind him. Her young pussy now completely exposed, the two guards practically licked their lips in anticipation. Jenny shivered when she felt the guards' fingers touch her outer lips, stroking them back and forth over her most sensitive area.

"Ohhh yeah, you've got a really tender little pussy here princess. You'll really be able to 'service you empire' with this." taunted the guard, as his fingers poked and probed at her, searching for her opening. "I'll bet you can't wait to get some hard cock up here, can you? I can feel your tight cunt trying to clamp down on my fingertip when I press it in... you know what that means? It means your pussy is hungry for dick. Each little squeeze it makes, is your pussy begging to be fucked." The guard worked his finger deeper into Jenny's clasping vagina. Jenny shut her eyes, trying to not hear his words, trying to ignore the feeling of the invading finger, or pretend it was Brad or the Silver Shell, like her old fantasies. The guard would have none of that, it seemed. He forced her back to reality by making her participate. "Tell me what your pussy wants. Tell me that you want cock in your pussy." demanded the guard. The look on his face made it clear that if she refused, Jenny could expect worse than just another slap.

"I... my pussy... I want some cock in my pussy." said Jenny quietly.

"Again! Louder!" the guard ordered, pulling away a release on his armor and extending a lengthening robotic penis, which he proceeded to stroke a few inches away from Jenny's bare cunt.

Jenny took a deep breath and yelled out "Fuck my pussy! My snatch needs a hard dick to fuck it silly, please pound my hot cunt!" hoping that it would satisfy her tormentors. Maybe they'd bring themselves to orgasm without even having to violate her. The worst part was that her body seemed to be believing her words... all this dirty talk and having her cunt lips fondled was starting to make her juices flow. The guards' fingers probing inside of her touched against her spark plug, feeling the rubber condom left over from Jenny's last lovemaking session with Brad. Confused, the guard pulled it out, gave it a brief inspection, then tossed it aside, deciding it was unimportant. Jenny's eyes were locked on the guards' extended erection, his fist pumping it and bringing the tip ever closer to her suddenly defenseless pussy.

"Please don't..." she pleaded weakly, shuddering in revulsion as the cockhead pressed against her wet lips, spreading them open around it's width and poking eagerly into her hot vagina.

"What was that?" demanded the guard.

"NO!" screamed Jenny, even as the guard fed more of his length up into her tight crevice. "Take it out, please! I'll do what Brutus wants, I promise! Just don't fuck me!" Jenny cried, desperate to avoid becoming pregnant from this cruel thug.

"That ship has sailed, princess. You're gonna get fucked, so you'd best just learn to like it!" The guard thrust his member fully into Jenny's body, bottoming out with the base of his cock grinding against Jenny's spread labia. Jenny whimpered, trying to keep from crying again and maintain whatever dignity she could manage. The guard bucked his hips, starting up a steady rhythm, pumping his cock in and out of Jenny's well-lubricated snatch. As much as she hated all of this, the sex was giving her some minor sensations of pleasure flowing out from her pussy, and she could feel her juice drooling down her inner thighs and dripping onto the ground below. Looking away from her violation, Jenny spotted the second guard a short distance away, watching her getting fucked and masturbating his sizable erection.

The guard penetrating her was grunting with effort, and increasing the pace of his thrusts. Despite herself, she could feel her own pussy clenching down on the invading cock, leaking ever more girl-cum and fluttering with spasms... Jenny could tell that any second now, the guard would fill her with his cum, and then she would orgasm too, and then there would be no going back. Desperate to avoid pregnancy, Jenny hit upon a last ditch plan, remembering something Brad had once told her during her brief lessons in sex. "Unnh, yes, it feels so good!" Jenny moaned, faking enthusiasm. "Your hot cock has got me sooo turned on!"

The guards were both quite surprised, but pleased nonetheless. "Woah, she really is a little freak!" said the one watching from the side.

"Yes," Jenny agreed, "I am a sex freak! I'm a dirty horny slut who loves getting fucked deep!" The lustful grins on their strained faced told Jenny they were eating up every word, just as she had hoped. Now for the gamble... "Unnnnhh! Oh yeah, I'm gonna cum soon!" she looked up into the eyes of the guard fucking her. "Please, spray your cream on my face! I want it so bad, squirt it all over my face, because I'm such a trampy slut and I deserve it!" The guards exchanged a stunned look, smiled, and Jenny got her wish. The guard fucking her pulled out of her well-pumped cunt, dropping Jenny to the ground and letting her fall to her knees. The two guards closed in on her, furiously stroking their dicks to finish themselves off. Jenny stroked her pussy with her fingers, pushing herself over the edge and beginning her own orgasm, feeling her spark plug fire out a surge of electricity into her thankfully empty womanhood. "Unh, UNH YES! YES! Oh fuck it's sooo good!" screamed Jenny, creaming on her fingers. Her face looked up at her jailers, just as the first gobs of robotic cum began raining down on her. The two males groaned, emptying their balls all over Jenny's face, spurts of their jizz splashing down onto her hair, her chest, and staining her dress. Finally their spurts ceased, and they laughed as their tucked their spent members back into their armor.

"Wow, I never knew she would turn out to be such a whore in disguise!" exclaimed one guard. The other agreed, "yeah, I've never seen a girl enjoy being raped so much... what a slut!" Jenny held her head down, trying not to hear their hurtful jeers, feeling their sticky cum slowly dribbling down her face. One of the guards kicked Jenny's leg to get her attention. "Now, I hope you'll be more cooperative with the prince in the future. Otherwise we'll have to come get you and teach you a lesson all over again. And It'll keep happening until you learn how to respect the Cluster royalty, understand?" Jenny nodded submissively, saying nothing. "Good. We'll come get you in the morning, in time to get ready for your wedding. If you're well behaved during the ceremony, perhaps the prince will allow you to sleep in the royal chambers with him, instead of returning you to this cell here."

Jenny nodded again, and waited for the guards to leave. Once the door had closed and she was alone again, Jenny finally let the sobs through. Weeping, she tried to salvage as much of her ruined dress as possible, using the skirt to try to wipe her face clean of the guards' drying cum, and her own tears. She had thankfully avoided impregnation, but the cost... she had never felt so degraded or worthless in her entire existence. Letting out a scream of frustrated rage, Jenny tore the cum-soaked dress from her body, shredding it and throwing it angrily to the ground. Her energy spent, Jenny slumped over onto her side. The cell was devoid of a bed or any features whatsoever, so it seemed as good a place as any. Naked and slightly cold, Jenny tried to force herself to sleep, praying that some kind of rescue would arrive soon. Crying herself to sleep, Jenny dreamed of the revenge she would have when her powers returned and her friends came to free her.


	11. Chapter 11

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 11**_

Sheldon paced the interior of Nexus' ship, his heavy footsteps clanging loudly. As he shuffled back and forth, the Cluster drones that made up Nexus' resistance movement scurried out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed underfoot each time. His face bore a worried look, he was clearly uncomfortable with Jenny being in any kind of danger. His imagination taunted him with dozens of possibilities that could be menacing Jenny at that very moment. Brad watched him, annoyed, as he practiced spinning his pistols around his trigger fingers, just as he had watched his old west heroes do in the movies.

"Sheldon! Would you knock that off?!" Brad complained, folding his arms over his chest.

Sheldon stopped, turning to face Brad. "Sorry brad. I'm just worried about Jenny. I know she's used to danger, but I've got a bad feeling about this one. The stakes seem higher somehow."

Brad rolled his eyes, laughing it off. "Well that just makes it all the more exciting buddy! If you worry all the time, you'll suck all the fun out of this!"

"Fun?" blurted Sheldon, shocked. "You think this is all some kind of game?"

"Sure." answered Brad. "The game of life. Think about it... we're about to storm an alien fortress, on the front lines of a rebellion against a robot dictator, in order to rescue a fair maiden from the clutches of an evil prince. How many people in the world get to experience adventure like that? I feel like some kinda Luke-Skywalker-cowboy-Robin-Hood or something." Brad whipped out both pistols and leveled them at some imaginary foe, displaying his practiced quick-draw. "And you've got it even better, Shell-head! You're a bona fide superhero now. You know how much I've wished to be super strong, or fly, like you can? I'd love to be in your shoes right now."

Sheldon grumbled, frowning at Brad. "You wanna get run over by a truck? I could arrange that..." he muttered under his breath.

Perhaps Brad was right... but Sheldon felt nothing but apprehension at the idea of the oncoming combat. Perhaps Silver Shell had been built to be a super hero, but Sheldon was still a timid geek at heart. He preferred his action second hand, read through a comic book, unlike the thrill-seeking Brad.

Perhaps Brad really **was** better suited to be Jenny's boyfriend.

Nexus walked into the passenger compartment, closing the door to the cockpit behind her. "The pilot tells me we're due to arrive within the next 15 minutes." she stated, a forced calm in her voice.

Sheldon was surprised. "Wow, that was fast. Earth technology takes days or weeks to get anywhere in our solar system. We got here in only 6 hours?"

Nexus sat down with them, a few resistance bugs making room for her on the bench seating. "We're fortunate that the _Cluster 1_ doesn't move very fast. It's intended to be a mobile staging ground for invasions, like a planetary siege weapon."

Sheldon exchanged a wide eyed look with Brad. "Just how big **is** this thing, exactly?" asked Brad.

Nexus smirked, showing a small flash of pointed teeth, an attribute she shared with her mother. "Don't worry, I don't plan on fighting it. Before I defected from the royal family and started the rebellion, I thought ahead and made sure to steal a handful of protocol codes. They **should** allow us to dock without raising suspicion, and fool the mothership's computer into believing that my ship is just another one of it's shuttlepods."

The gathered resistance Cluster drones began forming up into ranks, each holding their firearm or blade at their side, as the _Cluster 1_ came into view on the port side of the ship. "Prepare yourself..." warned Nexus, "The wedding will undoubtedly be held in the throne room... we'll have quite a distance from our point of entry to get there. This will be a lightning strike, then a running battle back to the ship. It **won't** be easy."

* * *

Jenny awoke the next morning when a contingent of courtesans and groomers arrived, ready to prepare Jenny for her wedding. The were clearly shocked at her state, though they said nothing about it; politeness, Jenny supposed. They acted more as though she had been a child caught in the rain, fussing over her and cleaning her up.

In short order they had prepared a new dress for her, and had dressed her pigtails into a complicated sort of beehive hairdo, surrounded by a headdress that reminded Jenny of some kind of Egyptian pharaoh. The robots applied makeup to her face, taking their time with intricate eyeshadow designs that flowed out from the corner of Jenny's eyes into swirls and spirals on Jenny's cheeks.

Jenny just sat there passively and let them go about their business. After last night's ordeal, she just felt so... defeated. She might as well just go along with the funny little beetles' wishes, it'd make this all a lot easier.

Once Jenny was properly attired, Vexus arrived to pick her up. Jenny was surprised to find herself actually welcoming the meeting. Vexus may be a supervillain, but it was preferable company to the chittering little drones, even if they were friendly. Vexus' humanoid form lent her a degree of humanity that Jenny felt more at ease with, even if Vexus would never hear of such a thing. And it was certainly better then being escorted by guards...

"You look lovely, XJ9." complimented Vexus, tentatively poking at the delicate arrangement on Jenny's head, fixing some minor detail she felt was out of place.

Jenny walked alongside Vexus through a large promenade of the ship, where Cluster citizens hustled through on and off- duty activities. Jenny turned her head slightly to regard Vexus... she wasn't sure at all how to respond to this, so she remained silent.

"It reminds me of my own wedding day..." Vexus continued "I was nervous too, of course, but nowadays it seems like it all went by in a flash. And my parents had done an excellent job in picking out my suitor... everything that was to be expected from a prince."

Jenny had never seen this side of Vexus before, she was being nice, even... motherly. Unable to hold back her curiosity, Jenny asked "You're married? To who?"

Vexus tilted her head, her smile fading. "Oh, my husband has been dead for the past ten years or so... Brutus is barely old enough to remember him." Vexus sighed, and sensing Jenny's next question, she added "He was killed during the last great war against the Irkens, 'Impending Doom II', or something like that. Thankfully his death was not in vain... he managed to hold out against them long enough that their supply lines ran out, and they were forced to negotiate a peace settlement."

Jenny felt sympathy for the Cluster Queen, once again being surprised by her own emotions. "Bah, ancient history!" said Vexus, changing the subject. "I wanted to talk to you about the ceremony today, and what will happen after. Being married to Brutus will grant you the title of Cluster Princess, and you'll wield a great deal of power. Brutus will remain a prince for the time being, until the day I eventually retire from the throne, and the two of you reign as King and Queen. During this time I will be instructing you in the finer points of being a successful monarch, as Brutus has been from birth. It will also be your duty to ensure the continuity of the royal line, which means you'll be expected to birth at least two heirs..."

Jenny held up her hands to protest, stopping in her tracks. "Wait a second! I know I've been going along with this so far, but let's not forget that you **forced** me into this. What makes you think I'm going to stick around once I regain full access to my weapons systems? Do you plan to zap me with that EM gun every third day?"

Vexus placed a gentle hand on Jenny's shoulder. "XJ9... you are programmed to help those in need, are you not?"

Jenny's silence answered for her.

"Well frankly, the Cluster _needs_ you. The Cluster is a mighty empire, but we're at the flashpoint of a crisis. One only you can avert. It's not quite the same as the superheroing that you're used to, but believe me, by joining the Cluster you'll be helping a hundred times the people you've been helping back on Earth. Your efforts are being wasted there, amidst it's brutish inhabitants, who don't even recognize the importance of your efforts!"

Jenny regarded Vexus with skepticism. "And what makes you so confident the Cluster's citizens are just so much more civilized?" began Jenny, deadly serious.

"What do you mean by that?" Vexus asked, nearly scoffing with amused disbelief.

Fixing her hostess with an accusing glare, Jenny recounted the events of the previous night. She fought to maintain control of her emotions and carry through to the end of the story, but by the end of the story Jenny was threatening to ruin her makeup in a fit of tears. Finally Jenny broke down completely, at least until Vexus held her in her spindly arms and hushed her quiet, which Jenny felt was downright bizarre.

This was exactly the sort of thing Jenny's own mother used to do when she was little... a memory of being rocked to sleep in her mother's arms on a cool summer night came unbidden to Jenny's mind. That didn't make much sense, Jenny thought, until she remembered what her mother had said about her switching bodies over time. Judging by her mother's ability to lift her up, she guess she had been XJ2 or XJ3 when the memory had been created.

"Come, my dear, I know just the solution for you." said Vexus, in her usual authoritative tone.

Vexus quickly lead Jenny to the nearest security station, where Vexus demanded that the guards escorting Jenny the previous night be brought to her. The security station's manager, obviously petrified of his Queen, hurried to perform her orders. Minutes later, the two guards that had molested Jenny were brought forward, and were shaking with fear.

"Are these the ones?" asked Vexus, and Jenny nodded without taking her eyes off them. She couldn't believe how angry she was at them... she wanted to melt them down with the white-hot hatred she felt.

"Officers, turn over your side arms to me." commanded Vexus, with which the guards immediately complied.

Vexus powered up one of the pistols, and handed it to Jenny. "Do whatever you will, XJ-9. You are acting in your position as a Cluster princess, meeting out the appropriate justice. There will be no recrimination for your actions."

Jenny balked, looking at the gun in her hands. Vexus wanted her to kill them? She knew what she had just thought a minute ago, but now that the opportunity was in front of her...

Jenny leveled the pistol at the guard standing before her, who gulped but remained in place, arms at his sides. "Your first lesson on being a ruler;" stated Vexus "is that sometimes a leader must bear the burden of responsibility for something that appears wrong, but is so very, **very** necessary."

Jenny looked down the scope of the gun, picturing the laser firing from the muzzle, spearing out to obliterate the head of the guard in front of her, the one who had caused her so much pain the night before. She imagined he felt as helpless as she had, right then. And suddenly, the memory of her mother returned to Jenny's mind. What would her mother think, if she could see Jenny now? Jenny threw the gun to the ground in disgust, noticing that it broke into several pieces on impact. Good... that meant her strength was returning, even if slower then she would've liked.

Jenny walked away from the scene, saying, "You'd better be careful Vexus... if you make me Queen, there are going to be some changes around here."

Vexus watched Jenny storm off, and smiled.

She hadn't done as Vexus told her, but she displayed anger, and that was something Vexus could work with. In time, she would mold XJ9 into what she wanted, twist her ideals until they suited the needs of the Cluster.

Vexus turned around, looking back at the two guards who were visibly sighing in relief.

She snarled.

In a flash, she closed the distance between them, driving her right fist through the skull of the closest guard, killing him instantly. The second gaped in shock as Vexus pulled her hand from the ruined head of his companion, then seized him by the shoulder with it. Vexus' left hand flicked out into a splayed position, deadly talons extending from the tips of her curled fingers. In a single fluid motion, Vexus' left hand cleaved up through the guards' torso, easily shredding his armor and sending bits of his inner machinery flying out onto the floor. Vexus dropped the collapsing guard, who died with a weak mechanical squawk as his vital fluids and components spilled out in a pool all around him.

Vexus flicked her hands, retracting her claws and trying to clean the majority of the guards' entrails from her hands. Leaving the cleaning to the janitorial staff, Vexus turned and strode off after XJ9. She would have to keep a closer watch of the subjects she allowed to watch over her captives in the future.

* * *

A short while later, Jenny had taken her place in the throne room as the ceremony begun. Luckily, thought Jenny, Clusterweddings were at least as ornate as human ones. Her anxiety slowly mounted as it looked more and more like she was actually going to have the **marry** this twerp, Brutus.

What a situation to be in... married while still in high school! Although, it's wouldn't really be considered legal back on Earth, but then that was starting to beg the question of whether or not Jenny was ever actually going to get back there at all.

At the front of the room some kind of clergyman was reciting something in a computer language that Jenny couldn't understand... "0, 11, 0100011, -101110-10-1-1110, 00-10100-1..." Vexus and the other Cluster citizens listened attentively, but it was all gibberish to her. Jenny subtly elbowed a nearby attendant to find out what was happening, and was told that the cleric was leading a prayer in trinary code, considered sacred by the majority of the Cluster. Jenny just shrugged, tuning it out. She flexed her grip on the ornamental chime she was holding, testing her strength. Disappointingly, she found herself unable to bend or break the metal, producing an annoying creaking instead.

Afterwards, Jenny and Brutus approached the throne where Vexus sat, adorned in her full royal vestments. As Vexus directed, the two of them placed their hands together and recited their full lineages, as far back as was appropriate. Brutus began, declaring himself "Brutus, son of Vexus, daughter of Clorus, son of Grantius and descendant of the mighty Frederator, founder of the line."

Vexus, and the crowd, then turned their attentions on Jenny, expecting her to follow suit. Jenny stammered, unsure what would be appropriate for a girl like her, who had been crafted by her mother's hand alone. "Ahhummm... XJ-9, daughter of Wakeman... err, based on the work of Neutron, extrapolated from Devol, influenced by Walter..." Jenny shut up when she caught the blank stares of the audience, offering a sheepish smile instead "...that's all."

Vexus then rose from her seat, and declared in a loud commanding voice ,"Let it be known to all that I have judged this robot, and I find her worthy. From this day forth the house of Vexus welcomes XJ-9 as its newest daughter."

Vexus extended her hands to Jenny, placing a tiara on Jenny's forehead that looked a lot more like a tuning fork then jewelery. Cutting it pretty close guys, thought Jenny, worried that she would have to resort to sprinting towards the nearest exit if help didn't arrive **very** soon. Jenny glanced nervously at every visible door, hoping for any kind of delay in the ceremony. Vexus concluded her lines, "This is the decision of the matriarch of the Cluster. If any should dare oppose it, let them feel the full weight of the empire upon them!"

A loud crash sounded from the far back of the room, causing the wedding ceremony to come to a sudden halt. Jenny and Brutus spun around, looking towards the large double-doors that served as the main entrance to the throne room, closed for the day's events. The ornately carved metal of the doors had been caved inward, a gigantic dent projecting in towards the throne room, as though the opposite side had been on the receiving end of a collision with a truck. For a split second no one moved or spoke, stunned by the oddity they were witnessing. Never in the last century had anyone or anything opposed the will of the Cluster in the royal throne room. Then, a second crash sounded, and the double-doors shattered, thrown from their hinges and hurtling towards the assembled crowd.

In the doorway stood a very angry and very determined looking Silver Shell.

A moment later, the room exploded into movement. Around Silver Shell's legs swarmed in armed rebel Cluster drones, pouring into the room and firing almost randomly towards the Queen's royal guards. The Royal guards were instantly springing to the defense of Vexus, throwing themselves into the line of fire if need be, and returning some shots at the rebels when they could. Nexus streaked into the crowd, dashing ahead of Shell, and issuing out large gouts of bright green flame from her wrists. The chemical fires she started served to block off the screaming wedding guests and slow the oncoming guards, ensuring a direct route to Jenny remained open. Silver Shell strode confidently forward, his pace increasing with each step.

Jenny came to her senses, yanking her hands away from the would-be-groom's. Jenny gave Brutus a hard smack across the face that sent the puny prince spinning, then rushed towards Silver Shell as fast as her dress would allow. Sheldon was duking it out with a few of the Queen's bodyguards that had attempted to halt his advance, but even armed with futuristic lances they were no match for the hulking body of the Silver Shell. Sheldon reached out and grabbed the nearest guard by the head, easily hoisting him off the ground and swinging the hapless goon as a blunt weapon. As the remaining two attempted to penetrate Shell's armor with their weapons, they were in turn knocked aside by Silver Shell's improvised club. Discarding the guard by tossing him over his shoulder and into the crowd, Sheldon spotted Jenny running towards him and locked eyes with her. Amidst the fire, gunfire and combat occurring all around them, Sheldon took Jenny into his arms and swept her up in an enormous hug.

"You came for me! I knew you would!" exclaimed Jenny happily, immense relief showing on her face. "I mean... I knew you **guys** would come rescue me." corrected Jenny, awkwardly.

"Centurion, go fetch the EM gun that brought XJ-9 down in the first place!" snapped Vexus, "the rest of you, lay down a suppressing fire for me."

The guards did as they were commanded, firing at the strike team of rebels and forcing them to take cover behind the abandoned seating arrangements. The rebels were valiant, but could not compare to the superior skill and training of the Queen's elite guard. The rebel drones were dropping like flies. Vexus hissed maliciously as she flew forward like a hurled javelin, her membranous wings extending from her back and propelling her towards her target. Her sights set on Silver Shell's throat, her arms reached out in front of her, extending impossibly sharp talons ready to go in for the kill...

Nexus leaped out to intercept her mother, colliding with her in midair. Vexus and Nexus tumbled to the ground, their hands locked in a death grip with each other. For a few perilous second the two rolled together, neither gaining an advantage, until they eventually came to a stop... with Vexus on top. She pinned her daughter down against the floor, easily outmatching Nexus' strength.

"So this is what you've been doing since you ran away? You organized the rebellion that's been inconveniencing me? What a waste." Hissed Vexus, baring her gleaming teeth.

Nexus said nothing... but released a fresh burst of chemical-flame from her wrists, engulfing both their hands in orbs of deadly fire. Vexus noticed this tactic with a tinge of respect; against any other opponent, it would send them screeching off of Nexus, clutching their hands in pain. But Vexus was made of sterner stuff then that. She grinned, clenching harder on the inferno that was her daughter's hands, and forced their locked fists slowly towards Nexus' face...

"Ahem, excuse me Queenie." came a voice from behind her.

Vexus turned, distracted, to see a young human boy standing behind her. He smiled pleasantly, holding up something in his hand for her to see. "No, not this..." he corrected, indicating the black cylinder in his hand with a bright red button projecting from one end, "This!"

Vexus' eyes followed to where he was pointing, spotting some kind of device affixed to her back!

Underneath her, Nexus folded up her legs into a spring kick, planting her slender feet against her mother's chest and pushing off hard, sending the matriarch hurtling off of her and towards the opposite wall. Just before she impacted, Vexus caught sight of the human boy depress the red trigger, and instantly everything around her exploded into flame.

Brad helped Nexus up off the ground, shielding his eyes from the explosion of the plastic explosive he had strapped to Vexus' back. "That was quite resourceful," complimented Nexus, "The rebellion could use a few more like you."

Brad was about to reply with something witty when Nexus was struck from behind, suddenly engulfed in a halo of bright blue energy. Brad looked to where the blast had originated, and saw the EM cannon the Cluster had used at the robotics expo, being operated by a pair of Cluster warriors. Nexus spasmed violently, gripped in a seizure of some kind, and fell to the ground at Brad's feet.

"Nexus!" he cried out, crouching by her side.

Sheldon and Jenny noticed as well, turning their attention to the Cluster warriors brandishing the gun. Brad watched helplessly as the cannon fired again, this time straight for Jenny and Sheldon. The beam struck out for them, barely giving Sheldon enough time to put his arms protectively around Jenny, before the EM cannon impacted on target.

Brad watched Jenny and Silver Shell vanish. One moment they were there, then with a flash of light as the EM pulse hit, they were gone. With Nexus incapacitated next to him, that left Brad alone, with a dozen or so remaining rebel Cluster drones, scattered by the now reinforced royal guardsmen. Suddenly the odds had swung sharply against him. Brad didn't even have time to ponder what may have become of his two closest friends... he felt a tug at his pants leg, and saw Nexus gasp, "Go! Get reinforcements! A ship! Press the attack!"

Brad didn't know if she was even coherent... Nexus' eyes were wide and unfocused, her facial expressions wild and feverish. Making an important tactical decision, Brad turned and fled, heading back for the ship with a few of the rebels following close behind.

Vexus, pieces of her armor still smoking, pulled herself from the debris that had fallen atop her. The explosive attached to her back had taken out a chunk of the wall when it had detonated, temporarily trapping her under a pile of rubble until she had recovered enough of her strength to shove it aside. Now Vexus was fuming both literally and figuratively. The wedding was in ruins, XJ-9 was nowhere to be seen... and both of her children were passed out on the floor. Wonderful.

"Guards! Get these two to their quarters, and post a few sentries at my daughter's door. Where is the bride?"

The guards were perplexed, as clueless to their disappearance as Brad had been. Vexus ordered an immediate search party, assuming that by "disappeared" the guards had meant "gotten away". In short order search parties were organized and sent out, and Vexus retreated to her private chambers. After all this, she was going to need a nice relaxing bath.

* * *

Jenny let go of Sheldon as the two reappeared in the now empty throne room, Sheldon slumping over with his hands on his knees, obviously drained from the experience. At the last second before being shot, Sheldon had protected them both with some kind of force field that he had activated, and everything had gone pitch black and perfectly silent. Now that sensation had returned Jenny peeked around, noticing that the fires had been extinguished and that the fallen guards had been removed from the room. In the aftermath of the fight, the room was as still as a grave.

"Sheldon, what just happened?"

Silver Shell struggled to find his voice, trying to catch his "breath". "I can only guess that... (huff) ...my force field didn't just block the EM attack... (huff puff) ...but it also deflected all incoming light rays as well... (wheeze) ...so we were effectively blind, but... (huff) ... the light bending around us rendered us invisible." Sheldon collapsed onto his back, laying down. "I think the field also pushed away all the air within it's area of effect, which is why we couldn't hear anything. It's a good thing neither of us breathes."

Jenny walked back over to Sheldon, concern on her face. "Shell? You don't look so good... what's wrong?" she asked, worried.

Silver Shell smiled weakly at her, "Oh, I think I just used that invention a bit too long... It really drained my power core. I think... you might have to carry me for a bit."

Jenny grunted with effort as she hoisted Silver Shell onto her shoulder. Her strength had improved above that of a typical human, at least, though she could tell she was still far from being the truck-juggling-titan she normally was. Between Sheldon's condition and her own, Jenny really didn't like her chances of breaking out and making it back to Earth by themselves.

"Sheldon, we're going to have to find a place to hide for the time being." announced Jenny.

But where, she wondered, on a ship full of enemies, could they possibly go?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

A shaft of light speared into the darkness, forcing Jenny's slanted pupils to contract. She had grown accustomed to the dim twilight of the room that she and Sheldon had taken shelter in, lit as it was by a multitude of tiny LED lights, mostly blue and green. Desperate for anywhere to hide from the roving Cluster guards, Jenny had barely managed to sneak into this old forgotten alcove. It looked like some kind of boiler room or turbine or something, Jenny wasn't really sure.

It didn't matter much, but the soft humming it made was soothing to her, and helped to mask any noise she and Sheldon made. Right now, she was peeking out through a grate in the wall, through which she could see squads of armed Cluster drones stomping their way through the ship, searching for her. With a defeated sigh, Jenny closed the flap on the grating and walked back over to Sheldon, the room once again plunged into a comforting darkness.

Jenny sat down, leaning her back against the wall beside Sheldon. "How long do you figure we'll be stuck here?" he asked.

Jenny stared into the shadows of the room, letting her eyes play tricks on her. "I should be at full strength in another day, if the Cluster drones were telling the truth. Judging by the fact that I was able to carry you in here, I have no reason to think they were lying. We could leave sooner, depending on how fast you recover, or if Brad or anyone else stages another rescue attempt." she answered, not bothering to face him.

She had already attempted to contact her mother on her chest-mounted two-way television, getting nothing but static. Either that was another one of her systems that was temporarily disabled, or else something about the ship they were on was jamming the signal. Either way it amounted to the same, thought Jenny, letting her eyes wander over the room's contents. The tiny LEDs scattered throughout the machinery captured Jenny's imagination. They reminded her of Christmas tree lights, or of the candles that had been lighting Brutus' room when she had first met her would-be-husband. In a funny way, the faint blue/green glow cast by the LEDs was far more romantic to Jenny then the orange flame of the candles had been. Jenny smirked, amused by the notion that LEDs were to her as regular candles would be to a human girl.

"Speaking of your recovery, how bad did that force-field trick drain you anyway?" asked Jenny, turning to face him.

"I'm feeling better then before, a little weak still, but more then that I've had this piercing pain in my back ever since. I think overusing the device may have burned out some component."

Jenny's brow furrowed. "Could I take a look? I'm no mechanic like my mom, but I could at least remove it if it's giving you problems."

Shrugging, Sheldon methodically disengaged to clasps on his torso armor, eventually stripping bare from the waist up and turning around so Jenny could access the hatch on his lower back. Jenny was glad he had to face away from her. Seeing the Silver Shell topless was just a _little_ too close to her old fantasies... she felt her face growing flushed, so she tried to focus on the task at hand, prying open the access hatch and spotting the crisped remains of the force field generator.

"Yeowch!" yelped Sheldon as Jenny pulled it free, snipping a few of the entangled wires with a quickly extended scissor-blade from her fingertips.

Hey, she had just activated one of her accessory-systems! The heavy-duty armaments were still off-line, but at least this was a step in the right direction. "Sorry Sheldon... but it's out now. Feel better?"

Hopefully when they returned home, her mom could fix him up properly, and maybe get a replacement component for this burnt one. "Much better!" said Sheldon, resealing the hatch and stretching his torso, testing it for any remaining pains. Sheldon caught sight of Jenny watching him with interest, before quickly returning to her former position, staring into the shadows. Sheldon sat back down beside her, choosing to leave his armor off for the time being. The machinery in the room kept it well heated, and he was feeling a little too warm anyway.

For several minutes the two of them sat there like that, leaning against the wall and each other, staring at nothing in particular, the only sounds in the room drowned out by the hum of the turbine in the center of the room. Jenny was painfully aware of his bare shoulder resting against hers, but she didn't move for fear of making the situation already more awkward then it was right now. Finally, Sheldon spoke up, breaking the silence. "So, what was it like spending a day with the Cluster?" he asked casually, hoping to spark a conversation to pass the time.

Jenny frowned, reminded of her ordeal, but focused instead on some of the more positive aspects of it. "It's not **so** bad here... I forget sometimes that I normally only interact with the military aspect of the Cluster. But in reality it's an entire culture, with cooks and teachers and tailors and doctors and everything you expect a community to have. It's not the people's fault that they're ruled by an evil tyrant like Vexus." Jenny sighed, continuing "and even Vexus isn't as bad as I used to think. She's ruthless in getting what she wants, but she's doing it all for her people, and that's gotta count for something, right?"

Sheldon turned to look at her, smirking. "They seriously have cooks? What for, when they can just as easily plug into an electrical outlet for a snack?"

Jenny suppressed a giggle, Sheldon was trying to cheer her up and she knew it, but it was working anyway. "It's not that simple you know. We robots need a balanced intake of chemical fuel, electrical energy, and a few of the heavier elements for a balanced diet." She shoved him playfully. "You're a robot now too... I should get mom to make you one of her nitrous-oxide-injected, diesel-coated sundaes. Absolutely _delicious_. You'll love it, I swear!"

Sheldon returned her playful shove, "I'm sure I will." he answered back.

Jenny smiled, happy that if she had to be trapped here, at least it was with one of her closest friends. "I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad, living in a robot-only society for a while. It'd certainly be a change from life on Earth, where most people think I'm a freak no matter how many times I save the city. I kinda liked having all the Cluster citizens awed by me. And what girl doesn't dream of becoming a princess?"

"Yeah, but to become princess you'd have had to marry that little creep Brutus." countered Sheldon.

"Ahahaha, don't remind me!" Jenny laughed. Now that the threat of marriage was mostly passed, the runty Brutus seemed a lot less threatening.

"It's too bad the groom was such a dip, because you really do make a beautiful bride." added Sheldon, offhandedly. Jenny blushed. She had heard Sheldon call her beautiful before (as well as lots of other mushy compliments) but coming from the Silver Shell, with his bare chest showing, while surrounded by romantic mood lighting... Jenny couldn't help but feel her emotions starting to get the better of her. Reminded of her attire, Jenny extended a damp scrub from her wrist to start removing the makeup from her face, without stopping to think that it was another indicator of her returning abilities.

Her face back to it's usual spotless white, Jenny returned her hand to normal and resumed leaning against Sheldon. She found that even that casual contact was comforting to her. "Sheldon, do you really think I'm pretty?" she asked nervously, once more looking over to Sheldon, her eyes finding his in the dim light. She knew the answer already, Sheldon had never made any secret of his attraction to her. But Jenny found that right now she really wanted, needed to hear his praise for her.

"Sure Jenny, you know that. I can't take my eyes off you when I see you at school. I don't know why most people can't see it, but you're the most beautiful girl in Tremorton." Jenny couldn't help but smile at the compliment, eating up every word. The familiar feelings of pride and self confidence were returning, Sheldon replacing what the abusive guardsmen had taken from Jenny. She felt as though, at least in Sheldon's eyes, she was the most beautiful girl in the _world_. Without thinking, Jenny leaned forward and kissed Sheldon squarely on the lips.

She pulled back just as suddenly, shocked at her own actions. Jenny's hands still rested against Sheldon's bare chest, and she looked up into his wide eyes with a worried expression, afraid of what he would say next.

"Jenny... wha..." he stuttered, catching his "breath".

"I'm sorry Sheldon. I shouldn't have done that. I just... all those nice things you were saying to me, I guess I just got caught up in the moment." She shied away from, her hands clutching each other anxiously. Jenny could tell from the look on Sheldon's face that he was confused by what she had done. But in his eyes, there was also a look of ... hope? As though he knew exactly what he wanted to do, but was still waiting for something before he would take action.

Jenny could relate. She felt as confused as Sheldon looked. She had never thought of Sheldon as "boyfriend material"... not like Don Prima, or Silver Shell, or any of the other boys she crushed on. But now Sheldon **was** the Silver Shell, and recent events had forced her to reconsider what her "type" of boy really was. Looking at the handsome face of the Silver Shell, Jenny was hard pressed to remember him as the awkward, slightly annoying boy that he used to be. All that came to mind were Sheldon's caring, sensitive nature, his generosity and general love for life. And all wrapped up in the sexy physique of the Silver Shell.

Jenny's mind didn't know what to do, but the racing of her heart and the dampness between her legs told her that her body knew what **it** wanted. "Sheldon... I think I like you. I mean, **like** like you." Jenny took a breath, trying to force the words out before she chickened out. "I know it seems sudden, but I've actually been thinking it for a while... I've just sort of been in denial about it."

Jenny knew the truth in her words as they left her mouth, almost as much of a surprise to her as they were to Sheldon. She finally understood what the phrase "speaking from the heart" meant. "I know that I'm dating Brad right now, but me and him... we're not really looking for the same thing from the relationship. Brad is just looking for an adventure... he's playing around, having fun with it. Which is good, for some people I guess. That's what I wanted at first, too. But it's not what I'm looking for anymore. I want something more then just 'friends with benefits'... which is what me and Brad really are, when I think about it. What I want is someone who **really** loves me... and who I love back."

She placed her hand on Sheldon's, smiling softly up at him. Jenny supposed she would have to break up with Brad when she got back to Earth now. She was sure he'd understand, she just had to explain to him what she explained to Sheldon just now. They could go back to being friends like they were before. And in the meantime Sheldon and her were here **now**, so why wait on formality?

Sheldon looked down at Jenny's face, blushing a soft shade of blue in her cheeks. His own pulse rushing through his body was the only thing letting him know that what was happening was real, and not just some wonderful dream.

"So what should we do?" he asked timidly. This revelation had been his fondest wish up until this point, but Sheldon didn't want to take advantage of Jenny, or push her into anything she wasn't ready for. He would let her dictate the pace of this encounter... even if it meant stopping right now, if that's what she chose.

Jenny smiled and leaned in close, her face inches away from Sheldon's. "Well, I was hoping we could kiss some more..." she purred, lowering her eyelids and batting her eyelashes seductively.

Sheldon took hold of her, making her pause, "You're really serious about this Jenny?" he asked nervously. In place of answering, Jenny thrust her lips against his, pushing her tongue into his mouth as if to silence any remaining doubts he may have had.

Sheldon's large arms wrapped around Jenny in a warm hug, keeping the two of them pressed close together as they kissed. Jenny clasped her arms around his neck, tilting her head to the side to allow the kiss to deepen further. Jenny was in heaven; the former awkwardness she had experienced with Brad was gone. She no longer had to worry about hurting her man, singing his tongue or shocking his hands or worse. She squeezed Sheldon as hard as she could, knowing that even if she had been at full strength he probably wouldn't have been hurt. Jenny ground her torso against Sheldon's, feeling her nipples come to attention underneath the fabric of her wedding dress. The extra sensitivity felt marvelous to Jenny, making her pussy grow even wetter. "Little Jenny" was aching to be touched, but how far should she go with Sheldon? This was their first intimate encounter, and likely Sheldon's first experience with a girl **period**. And even more importantly, there was still the recent trauma from her experience with the Cluster guards clouding any sexual ambitions Jenny had...

No, screw that. Jenny refused to let them win that way. If she became frightened of sex for the rest of her life, then one night's abuse would become a lifetime of torment.

Sex had been a beautiful thing for her, before being kidnapped, and Jenny would make sure it that way again. Sheldon was nervous, clearly, but that's just because it was his first time. He just needed a little guidance, as she did during her first time. Breaking their kiss, Jenny took Sheldon's hands in her own, then placed the palms of his hands against her chest.

From the expression on his face she could tell he felt the hard points of her nipples hidden under the dress. She smiled softly, politely asking "Would you like to see them?"

Sheldon nodded, saying nothing, and Jenny slowly obliged. Pulling her top down to her waist left Jenny's chest naked, erect blue nipples in stark contrast against the clear white of her skin. Sheldon's hands reverently brushed over Jenny's immature bosom, breathing out a whispered " ...beautiful..." that Jenny barely heard. Sheldon's fingertips played with the stiff nubbins, and he leaned in to resume their kiss. Jenny stopped him however, smiling lovingly and gently pushing his head down to her chest.

"It feels really nice when they're sucked on..." she began, but was cut off by her own moan when Sheldon took the hint, fastening his lips around one nipple and eagerly began licking and sucking on her.

Her lover occupied with the task in front of him, Jenny's eyes wandered down the length of his torso and came to rest at his crotch. Was he "fully equipped", she wondered? Her mother had explained to her that the Silver Shell robot had been built by Sheldon to impress her. Perhaps, if Sheldon anticipated a need for it somewhere down the line... Jenny's hand reached down to Shell's groin, caressing the bulge between his legs. A loud metallic _Clang!_ caught Jenny by surprise, making her draw back her hand involuntarily. Sheldon hadn't seemed to notice, but she definitely caught his attention when she began unlocking his codpiece. Finally, after so many daydream simulations, Jenny would know what her crush **really** looked like naked.

Stripping off the armor without any protests from Sheldon, Jenny was quite pleased when she saw his erect member come into view. It was shaped similar to Brad's, she noticed, but was proportionate to Shell's larger body and looked to be made of the same gray metal that the rest of him was. Well, that explained the noise she heard, thought Jenny to herself. Sheldon looked up at her, silently questioning just how far she was planning to take this.

Jenny stood, untangling herself from Sheldon and stepping a few feet away. "Do you want me?" she asked in a sultry voice, her hands slowly lowering the dress from her hips and letting it drop to the ground around her feet. Jenny stood there before him in all her naked glory, her perfect white skin glowing under the illumination of the LEDs, a slim glint of light reflecting off the trickle of liquid leaking from between her puffy cunt lips. Sheldon was practically drooling at the sight.

"I've never wanted anything in my life as badly as I want you right now." he declared with utter sincerity. His words were like wine to her... sweet and mildly intoxicating. Jenny felt like a princess, that her naked body could inspire such awe in a man. Jenny sauntered back over to him, her hips swaying with each step.

At her direction Sheldon laid down on his back, Jenny straddled his hips and settled down on top of him. She could feel the hard length of his cock throbbing against her soft pussy lips, and with a satisfied smile Jenny ground her womanhood against him to increase the delicious sensation. Sheldon moaned with pleasure underneath her, pushing his hips up against hers out of some animal instinct. Jenny laid down on top of him, his chest easily large enough to support her entire weight.

Reaching one hand down between her legs Jenny grasped Sheldon's large penis in her hand, positioning it at her entrance and spreading her cunt lips open around the head. Jenny felt a kiss on her cheek, and Sheldon whispered into her ear "I love you Jenny. I'm so happy that you are my first."

Jenny smiled and looked at Silver Shell's loving face. "I love you too, Shell-urk! Uurrmmm..." Jenny's breath caught in her throat as she pushed down onto her lover's prick, wedging it into her tight passage. Brad hadn't been quite this big! Sheldon tensed, his hands on her hips to help her fit it inside. Gradually her pussy swallowed the complete length of her lover's tool, Jenny's copious juices easing it considerably. Once it was completely embedded inside of her, Jenny kept still for a moment, noting how perfectly full she felt. As though their bodies had been made for each other.

Sheldon's hands stroked Jenny's back, starting at her shoulders and working their way down to her ass. "Jen? I know I'm new at this but isn't one of us supposed to be moving...?"

Jenny took a deep breath, sitting up and smiling down at her new lover.

"You just leave all the work to me." she cooed, leaning her hands on his chest and flexing her legs. Slowly at first she raised her hips up, pulling all but the tip of Sheldon's cock free from her womanhood. "ooohhmmmm..." she moaned in pleasure as she sank back down again, rejoicing in the feeling of being filled to the brim with hard dick.

Repeating the same movements faster and faster each time, Jenny was soon humping Sheldon's prick with gusto, having established a high-speed rhythm. Jenny was practically bouncing on his lap, and her ass cheeks would have been jiggling had it not been for Sheldon's firm grip on them. "Unnnhh! Oh Shell-uunnnn!" she groaned, her voice strained by the pleasure coursing through her body. Each thrust spread her labia out around the base of his robot cock, and she could faintly make out the sensation of the tip of his member touching against the very back wall of her insides. Wet noises could be heard from the lubricant that had leaked out of her and dribbled down onto Sheldon's crotch, coating his genitals and thighs.

"Ohhhhh Shell, your cock has got me so hot! Unng... I think I'm gonna cum baby! Unngg... Unh! Unh! UNNHH YESSSSS!!" with a scream of delight Jenny's orgasm hit her like thunder, her body shuddering in pleasure. Jenny gripped Sheldon tightly with her thighs and arms as she rode out the climax, her pussy firing jolts of electricity through her spilling juices and arcing against Sheldon's throbbing cock.

Jenny was still feeling the last twitches in her pussy as she came down from her orgasm. Looking down at Sheldon, she realized that he hadn't cum as well, as Brad usually did.

"Did I do something wrong Sheldon? I wasn't pushing too hard was I?" she asked with a worried frown.

Sheldon shook his head no, "That was wonderful Jenny. I just didn't want it to be over already." he said as he sat up to kiss Jenny's lips.

Jenny wheezed, tired from her orgasm and the strain of fucking. "You want me to go again, right now?" she asked incredulously. She was still recovering, she reminded herself, and another effort like that might be beyond her abilities at the moment. Sheldon smiled and wrapped his arms around her, gently lifting her off of him and helping her stand up.

"Here Jenny..." he offered, motioning for her to lean her back against the wall and spread her legs open. Jenny complied, unsure exactly what Sheldon was planning, until he crawled up in front of her and began licking her inner thighs. Jenny purred appreciatively as he cleaned the remains of her fluid from her legs and groin, then worked inward towards her satisfied vagina.

Having orgasmed only moments ago, everything felt extra sensitive down there. Every lick at her plump nether lips, every slurp into her well fucked hole sent a wave of sensation up her back to her brain. Jenny looked down between her legs where Sheldon's face was being smeared in her lubricant, and noticed that Sheldon had his cock in his hand and was steadily jerking off. The sight of his fist pumping his steel-hard organ was enough to really start Jenny up again... to return that familiar hunger inside of her that could only be satisfied by having something touch her deep inside her pussy.

"Sheldon..." she said, pulling his face away from her crotch " ...I need you inside of me. I need your cock in me **now**."

Sheldon stood up, towering over Jenny, keeping her pinned with her back against the wall. She could feel his erect penis touching against her inner thigh, less then an inch away from her sopping entrance.

"What was that Jenny?" he asked playfully, nuzzling his face against her neck and kissing up to her cheek.

"I want to feel you inside of me again... I'm ready now..." she sighed, feeling empty without him embedded inside her. The head of his cock poked against her cunt lips, making Jenny gasp, but failed to penetrate her.

"What is it I should do Jenny...?" he asked again, his voice playful. Jenny got the hint... he was teasing her.

She smiled, and played along. "I want you to **fuck** me, you handsome piece of machine you! I wanna get **fucked** until I'm weak in the knees!" Jenny pushed her hips forward for emphasis, taking the knob of Sheldon's prick between her lips and squeezing down on it. Dispensing with lover's games, Sheldon thrust forward, driving his cock in to the hilt.

"Aahhhhnnn!" screamed Jenny as she was suddenly filled, her hungry pussy exploding with pleasure. Sheldon slammed his hips against hers, making the wall behind her creak with the force of their lovemaking.

"Unhg... Jenny... this is better then I ever imagined it would be..." moaned Sheldon, his pace growing more urgent. From the force that he was fucking her with, Jenny could sense that he was growing close to his own climax. The sudden addition of Sheldon's teeth gently biting at her neck was too much for Jenny, and she was driven into her second screaming orgasm.

Jenny writhed and shook as her pussy spasmed around Sheldon's cock, electricity discharging into him and her outer lips clamping down around his shaft to minimize spilling any of his seed.

"Jenny... Unnnggg I'm gonna cum! I'd better pull out before..."

"Don't you dare!" Jenny interrupted, her fingers clawing at his back. "Keep it in! I want to feel every part of it!" she screamed, her orgasm overriding her better sense. Her vaginal servos squeezed down, determined to suck out every last drop of semen from Sheldon's body. With a deep growl Sheldon released the first spurt of his cum, following it with several more generous gushes into his young lover's womb. Sheldon bit at Jenny's neck as his body pumped out everything it could, while Jenny continued cumming almost continuously. Whether she had lost count of her orgasms or if it was all just one long one that wasn't stopping she wasn't sure. But when it finally did end, slightly after Sheldon had stopped pumping her full of his jizz, all Jenny could do was cling to her lover and softly cry tears of joy against his chest.

A few minutes later Sheldon had eased Jenny down from the wall (noticing that they had made a noticeable dent in it) and the two laid down together on the ground, using Jenny's spread out wedding dress as a poor excuse for bedding. Neither felt the need to talk about their situation anymore that night... there would be time enough for that in the days to come. For the time being they had merely done what came naturally, some combination of programming and instinct, and a discussion wouldn't change that at all.

Jenny rested her head in the crook of Silver Shell's arm and shoulder, hugging her arm around his chest and closing her eyes. From the sounds of his breathing Jenny could tell he had already drifted off to sleep. She smiled, this had been the first night that he hadn't needed her mother or herself to manually switch off his electronic brain. Proud and utterly satisfied, Jenny fell to sleep cuddled in the warm embrace of her love.


	13. Chapter 13

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 13**_

Utterly relaxed, Vexus closed her eyes and soaked in the sensation of her warm bath. Only her head and shoulders remained above the swirling, heated chemicals that soothed her singed skin and massaged her tired servos. After such a stressful day, a nice soak was exactly what she needed.

Jenny's friends had staged a rescue attempt, ruining the wedding she had planned out so meticulously, and even now Jenny had yet to be found. A number of the rebels had escaped after the attack, ensuring that there would be future incursions.

Especially since she now had their leader, her daughter Nexus.

"The prisoner, princess Nexus, as you commanded your majesty." announced one of the royal guards, escorting her bound daughter into the room. Vexus opened her eyes and smiled; estranged though they may be, she was still pleased to see her daughter returned to her.

"Hello mother." greeted Nexus icily.

Vexus waved away the guards, disliking seeing any member of the royal family tied up. There was no need after all, Nexus' abilities had been neutralized by the EM weapon the day before, and there were guards posted at every doorway watching her every move. Nexus rubbed her sore wrists, now freed from her restraints.

Vexus leaned up against the edge of the tub, resting her arms on the lip of the pool, lifting herself up until the water was only at mid-belly. Her wet, naked breasts did not go unnoticed by the guards present, but of course none of them were allowed to so much as blink while at their posts. Vexus grinned maliciously, enjoying this subtle torture she could so casually inflict on her bodyguards.

"Come on in Nexus, enjoy a quick dip in the hot tub. I think it'll help to even out that temper of yours a little." said Vexus, beckoning her daughter to join her.

Nexus shrugged, "I'd... prefer not, if it's all the same."

"It was not a request" Vexus snapped with a frown, motioning over a pair of guards.

Understanding their Queen's intentions, the burly guards seized Nexus and hastily began removing her armor. In under a minute Nexus was stripped bare, and shoved roughly towards the pool. Hastily sliding in to the waist to obscure her lower half, Nexus cupped her hands over her tits to hide her nipples from view, not nearly as comfortable with the guards' watching eyes as Vexus was. Plucking a squirming metal shrimp-like creature out of a floating bowl of appetizers, Vexus then passed the tray over to Nexus.

"I remembered these used to be a favorite of yours when you were little."

Nexus ignored it, keeping her hands firmly in place on her chest, regarding it with some distaste.

"Fine, don't eat then. More for me." grumbled Vexus, popping the morsel into her mouth and shredding it with her teeth.

Nexus scowled, "Could you dispense with the pleasantries and get to why I'm here please? We've never gotten along before, so I'm sure you're not deluded enough to think one afternoon of mother/daughter bonding in your spa could turn things around. If you just wanted to sit around and get a pedicure, I think I'd prefer my cell."

Vexus regarded her daughter with a sharp eye, then loudly swallowed her food. "Fine then. I see your time away from the family hasn't done much for your attitude." Vexus sighed, took a breath, and began.

"I wanted to talk about this whole 'rebellion' phase of yours. I know children often go through a period of disobedience towards their parents, but lately it's become quite an annoyance. I had put a lot of effort into XJ-9's wedding, and your attack has put the schedule back by days. So I'm asking you; please end this foolishness. I'm a very forgiving woman; if you tell your underlings to give up their struggle, I can welcome you back into the family and put all of this behind us."

"An annoyance?!"

Nexus was incensed.

She's spent months of hard work organizing a resistance from nothing but the dissatisfied grumblings of the citizenry.

"Last time I checked, mother, the Cluster hierarchy was not in a very powerful position. Petty bureaucrats and outdated customs are what is weighing down the empire, making it weak! What the Cluster desperately needs is sweeping reform, creating a newly invigorated empire from the ashes of the old!" Nexus nearly shouted, her voice rising in volume as she fell back on her radical rhetoric.

Vexus scoffed, patronizing her daughter "The Cluster is threatened, my dear, but not by **you**. Your pathetic little army cannot hope to oust **me**! Need I remind you that **I** am Queen Vexus! Entire planets quake in fear at my approach! **I** am beloved by the citizenry, and cannot be dethroned until I **choose** to give up my power to my successor." Vexus' eyes flashed with anger, her claws digging into the sides of the pool.

"You're megalomaniacal." stated Nexus with contempt.

Vexus' anger disappeared, replaced with laughter. "Well yes, a little. Insanity does run in the family, after all. Which is the real problem actually." Vexus quirked an eyebrow, amused.

"Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you did overthrow me. Just how would that make things any better? You have the same crooked family tree that I do. The Cluster will continue to collapse so long as we keep producing half-mad, half-deformed rulers. And it's not as if **you** can marry XJ-9. So you'd really have no choice but to allow her marriage to Brutus to proceed as I planned... or else marry him yourself. And while you could make your precious social reforms while you're in power, your inbred offspring would surely tear them down to rubble within two generations anyhow."

That made Nexus pause. She really didn't have much of a plan for what to do **after** she took over. She had been working so hard on getting the takeover accomplished first that she hadn't considered the follow up to be important at the time. At least, though, she had significantly more support from the populace then her mother seemed to realize.

"Perhaps you're right mother... I'd... like to go back to my cell to think things over. I'll give you my answer tomorrow."

Not planning ahead seemed to be a fault of hers, but she decided this decision would be well thought out.

Nexus noticed her mother's eyes were closed, and didn't seem to be paying attention. "Mom...?" she asked again, Vexus responding with "Uhmmmmm!" and a pleasured look on her face. Vexus' nipples had become stiff as pebbles, and as Nexus watched her mother had a brief shudder pass through her torso.

A moment later a Cluster drone broke the surface of the water just in front of Vexus, as the Queen's eyes opened. "The royal vagina is cleaned, your highness." the drone stated dutifully.

"Excellent..." Vexus purred, patting the drone affectionately on the head. "Would you care to have a few minutes with the bathers before you go Nexus? They're really quite skilled."

Nexus sneered, keeping her distance from the drone that was regarding her rather eagerly. "Some other time perhaps." Rising out of the pool Nexus didn't bother to cover herself, not caring that the attendants and guards were treated to a full view of her naked tits, ass and pussy. Her body dripped a trail onto the floor as she walked to the nearest towels, wrapping one around herself and heading for the exit. "Mom, could you have one of the servants send fresh clothing to my room? Something... fit to give a speech in."

Vexus grinned, pleased with what she was hearing. "Of course Nexus. Your wardrobe will be brought along right away."

Nexus left the room, guards escorting her along a private corridor back to her old quarters, the room she had abandoned when she first left her family. She went inside, leaving the guards out front to stand watch should she attempt to escape. It felt good to have some privacy when she had so much on her mind.

Nexus surveyed her old bedroom... almost exactly as she had left it, minus the personal effects she had taken with her when she left. She rummaged through an old yearbook from her high school back on Cluster Prime, then put it back on the small bookshelf next to her bed. Some pictures were set on top of the end table... an old ex boyfriend, her younger sister Vega (whom she hadn't seen in ages, Nexus reminded herself), and a victory photo taken when she had won a school sporting competition a number of years back. Nexus sighed, throwing herself onto her bed and letting the towel fall off of her. It'd been a long time since she'd had these sort of creature comforts.

Nexus stroked her hands down the length of her nude body, reveling in the freshly bathed feeling while it still lasted. Maybe her mother was right... running the rebellion had been exceedingly difficult, and crashing a wedding had been, to date, their largest accomplishment. If she gave it up she could have all this every night again: her favorite foods, nice things, even the bathers... Nexus let out a soft purr as she thought of one of her mother's servants descending between her legs, and pleasuring her with his dexterous tongue.

Unbidden, her hand made its way to her crotch, touching her delicate vaginal lips in the same places that Nexus imagined her lover's tongue was licking her. The soft waves of pleasure tingling through her body became too great a temptation for Nexus, and she surrendered to her need, spreading her thighs apart to give her easier access to her excited pussy. She considered calling in one of the guards to join her, but dismissed the idea. She was enjoying having some time to herself, relaxing without having to impress or charm anyone.

Her fingers sped up their pace, stroking across her increasingly wet folds in small circles. If she kept this up much longer, Nexus knew she would quickly rub herself off to a small but satisfying orgasm. She was in no rush though... switching positions, she rolled over onto her front and got up on her knees, almost squatting on her hand as it busily frigged her snatch. Nexus plunged two fingers into her dripping fuckhole, knowing the right spots to touch to give herself a stronger, internal orgasm. Her mind sorted through various erotic thoughts, looking for the right mental image to push her over the edge...

She imagined the room was filled with various males she had met, Silver Shell and Brad Carbunkle being the newest additions. From out of the crowd Nexus was most intrigued by the possibilities that Brad presented, during her limited time on Earth she hadn't had any real contact with the human natives. Nexus mentally undressed her memory of Brad, curious about what a human male would look like naked. Without any better information to work from, Nexus' mind filled in the blanks with the parts she had come to expect from male robots: in front would be the nanite injector extended to the optimum length, the tiny stud of a belly-bolt on his abdomen, and somewhere private would be the manufacture imprint.

Nexus sighed deeply, closing her eyes as her hand whipped her pussy into a froth. Her juices dribbled out onto the bed below her, sparks occasionally jumping from the puddle as it expended it's electrochemical energy onto the sheets. Fantasizing about the human boy Brad was giving her a wonderful feeling of being _taboo_. She wondered what it would be like to have a carbon-based alien like Brad have sex with her, filling her clean, sterile womb with his filthy, organic fluids. She knew there was no chance of a pregnancy of course, but in her fantasy it added to the eroticism of the scene. Nexus giggled, imagining showing her swollen belly to her mother, and watching Vexus' reaction when she explained to her that the baby was half human.

Feeling her arousal begin to reach the point of no return, Nexus decided to throw herself all the way into it, redoubling her efforts and allowing herself to moan and shout whenever she felt the urge. "Unnh! Ffffffuck me! FUCK ME HUMAN! Un yeah, mate me with your big fleshy cock!" Nexus involuntarily ground her hips against the bedding, imagining her lover to be laid out under her as she drove his maleness up into her body. Finally her release came, Nexus' back tensing and her legs trembling, a wash of fluids almost spurting out onto her fingers.

When the climax had passed Nexus fell to the bed and stretched out languidly, giggling at the tickling sensations of electrical jolts jumping from her spilled juices against her thighs. She was just about to fall into a dreamless sleep when she heard a slow applause.

"Great performance, sis." taunted Nexus' little brother Brutus, stepping out from the doorway to the bathroom.

Nexus shrieked, scrambling to cover herself with the bed sheets. "You were watching?! You perverted little creep!" Nexus ground her sharp teeth in anger, glowering at her peeping brother. "If I wasn't naked I'd leap across the room and strangle you with your own entrails right now..."

Brutus folded his arms across his chest and continued to ogle her, a smug grin on his face. "You'd best get used to it, sib. I overheard you talking with mom; when she retires from the throne, you can either marry me, or allow my marriage to XJ-9."

Nexus could see what he was getting at. If she married him, they'd be required to... consummate the union. If Brutus married XJ-9 instead, then he'd still be ruler of the Cluster and have the power to make Nexus into his concubine, or slave, or whatever he wanted, so long as he kept it a secret from XJ-9.

"What do you want?" hissed Nexus.

"Well, I was going to see if you wanted to get a head start on that grandchild mother wants so badly, but I can see you've developed other tastes during your time away from the Cluster." Brutus casually made his way to the door, then looked back at his naked older sister. "Sex with a human? That's just _gross_, Nexus."

Brutus left, the door closing behind him automatically. Nexus laid back on her bed, her stomach turned by Brutus' words. She fell asleep after deciding that the problem would be easier to solve in the morning, but deep down she already knew what she had to do.

* * *

Jenny nuzzled her face against the warm body of her lover, purring in contentment as she awoke from some meaningless dream. Gradually opening her eyes, the memories of where she was, and what had been happening suddenly rushed into Jenny's awakening mind.

"Sheldon! Wake up!" she whispered, sitting up and shaking her sleeping mate. A quick check of her internal clock told her that it was approaching what would be considered noon on the ship. Jenny wondered briefly why they had slept in so long... her systems were reading as being only 85 efficient. wasn't the EM cannon's effects supposed to have worn off by now?

Groggily, Sheldon rubbed his eyes and sat up. "mmm... 'morning Jenny. You sleep good?" he asked, feeling around in the darkness to locate his discarded clothing. Jenny hushed him, getting up and going to the grate on the wall, flipping aside the seal and peeking out into the ship beyond.

What she saw made Jenny grin. Utter silence, not a single Cluster robot to be seen. "I have no idea where they all went, but it looks like the coast is clear Sheldon! Get your clothes on, we can sneak out and get my old outfit back."

Sheldon locked his chest plate in place, then began working on covering his lower extremities. "Can't you just wear the dress they gave you until we get home? You have more copies of your blue skirt and top back on Earth."

Jenny frowned, lifting the dress up off the floor for Sheldon's inspection. The formerly beautiful gown was now dirty, torn, and stained with Jenny and Sheldon's sex fluids from their lovemaking the night before.

"Oh... nevermind." he muttered.

As stealthily as possible the two teenage robots made their way out of the secluded back room and into the ship beyond.

"You know which way to go?" asked Sheldon, following close behind Jenny.

Jenny paused to check around a corner, then signaled that everything was clear and proceeded on along the twisting hallways of the ship's maze like interior. "When I was being prepared for the wedding Queen Vexus took me on a bit of a tour of the ship. I don't know everything, but I do know that the tailor's shop and my old clothes should be right around..."

"...here." finished Jenny in a hushed voice, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw what lay around the next turn. The main promenade was filled with what must have been every nonessential passenger aboard the ship, all assembled in front of a podium where stood Nexus. The Cluster princess was dressed in an elegantly formal piece of royal attire, and had just begin to address the gathered crowd.

"Loyal citizens of the Cluster, I am here today to speak to all of you, but in particular to the members of the rebellion hidden amongst the populace. The rebellion that _I_ organized and lead. I can no longer lead... I have been captured, and stripped of my power. But I do have a message for any that would still follow my example,"

Jenny and Sheldon watched, unnoticed, as Nexus delivered her speech to the silent crowd. On a balcony overlooking the stage, Vexus watched patiently to make sure everything went **exactly** as she intended.

* * *

"Here we are..." stated Brad, uneasy. His plan was pretty shaky, to say the least. Last time he stormed the _Cluster 1_ he had been accompanied by two of the most powerful robots he had ever met, Silver Shell and Nexus. Not to mention a platoon of Nexus' little resistance drone buddies. This time he had... what? The only reinforcements that Earth had to offer, and a crazy, possibly suicidal plan. Part of him kept reminding himself that he should be at home right now, studying for high school or playing sports with his little brother.

And bored stupid.

Dangerous or not, **this** was what Brad wanted. Adventure. High-risk, high-stakes conflict. The Cluster mothership came into view on the main screen of the cruiser Brad had stolen. It was now or never... hitting a few buttons on the control panel, Brad initiated the "docking" sequence. Obviously no one had noticed the small craft had been missing during all the confusion of the previous day, or else someone just wasn't paying attention. Their ship shook as their craft impacted against the _Cluster 1_, breaching the hull and providing their point of entry. The exit hatch swung open, and Brad stepped up to put his plan into action.

* * *

"Never give up! Never surrender!" screamed Nexus, pounding her fists onto the podium. It had taken all of her skill as a politician, but she had managed to incite a riot amongst the majority of the Cluster citizens on board the ship. The remaining rebellion agents still planted in the audience took to it immediately, and their enthusiasm encouraged the other citizens, even those who had never had any prior sympathies for the rebellion. And to think, Nexus had **hated** the lessons on leading the public that her mother had taught her when she was little. Everywhere that she could see, otherwise loyal Cluster citizens were causing random destruction and defacing symbols of royal authority. Nexus smiled, taking a perverse joy in the situation.

Any second now, her mother the Queen would be arriving to kill her.

"That was **NOT** the speech we had agreed upon!" screeched Vexus, her wings a blur as she streaked down to the podium.

Ah, right on schedule. Nexus struck a defensive posture mostly out of instinct, with her armaments still offline thanks to the EM attack from the day before Vexus could rend her in half in seconds if she wanted to. If she was lucky it'd be over quick, killed in a fit of rage. What Nexus was afraid of was what would happen if her mother held back... she was positive Vexus was capable of devising much more _imaginative_ punishments for her should she survive. As Vexus stomped closer, talons extended and eyes shining with rage, it looked like Nexus would get her wish.

"Come on Sheldon! We have to save her!" argued Jenny, trying to pull the much larger Silver Shell towards the action.

Sheldon pleaded, "Jenny, this isn't our fight! We should use this riot as a distraction to cover our escape. We can forget about your clothes, we'll just punch through the hull and fly home, ok?"

Jenny let go of Silver Shell's arm, looking him sternly in the eye. "Nexus is the only reason I'm not married to Brutus right now. She came to my rescue, so I'm not just going to abandon her now. You can stay here if you're scared, but I have to do something... it's what I was built for." Sheldon shut up, and Jenny took his silence as an agreement. Pausing a half second to give him a quick peck on the cheek, Jenny took off, flying at high speed towards Vexus and her soon-to-be victim.

"Stop right there, Vexus!" shouted Jenny, landing in the rapidly diminishing space between the queen and her daughter. Vexus came to a sudden halt, a her expression of rage replaced with confusion.

"Jennifer, you realize that you're... naked?" Vexus asked, perplexed.

Jenny _harumphed_, disgruntled. "Yes... I am aware." she said calmly, gritting her teeth.

"Very well then." said queen Vexus, regaining her composure. In a flash Vexus bolted forward, both arms striking out like vipers going for Jenny's throat. Jenny seized Vexus by the wrists, stopping the attack inches from it's target.

"You have regained your strength I see..." purred Vexus, locking eyes with Jenny. The two stood as virtual statues, testing their strength against each other, Vexus' claws slowly creeping ever closer to Jenny's neck.

"Nexus, run! I can't buy you time forever!"

Nexus seized the opportunity Jenny had afforded her, turning and bolting from the stage. Hopefully she could get lost in the crowd, try to locate some of the resistance agents, steal a small ship and regroup elsewhere.

No such luck, Nexus realized, when she found herself suddenly surrounded by a trio of Vexus' elite bodyguards. Nexus staggered back up the steps, looking for some way around the robots menacing her with their sidearms. The one in front cocked his weapon, squinting on eye shut as he prepared to fire at the defenseless Nexus' head.

The pistol was knocked from his grip by a burst of laser fire, scorching the hand of the lead guardsman. Nexus and the trio all turned to look where it had come from, and were forced to crane their necks up higher and higher to see the Silver Shell confidently approaching them, his eyes still faintly glowing with energy.

"You're strong XJ9..." taunted Vexus, her clawed fingers finally closing around Jenny's neck. "...But I'm still stronger!" With ease, Vexus hoisted Jenny off the ground then flung her into the podium, reducing the object to splinters. "Why are you even defending her anyway? You're better then her!" asked Vexus. When Jenny pulled herself from the wreckage of the podium, Vexus had disappeared from sight. "That's why I offered you the throne that should have been hers!" continued Vexus, appearing behind Jenny by stepping from a portal she had torn in the fabric of space. Jenny spun around at the sound of her opponent's voice, just in time to receive a vicious backhand across the face.

"Still a lot slower, too." spat Vexus.

She was right, too. But why... all her systems were functioning, the effects of being hit by the EM cannon were completely gone. So why was she only at 85 power? Where was that last 15 going? Vexus kicked Jenny into the air, sending her crashing into the floor several feet away and scattering her thoughts. Jenny sat up to find that Vexus had disappeared into her dimensional tear again... which meant she was toying with her. Jenny spotted Nexus and Silver Shell off to the side, defending themselves against a growing number of Cluster warriors. Sheldon had beaten several to a pulp already, but he wasn't programmed for combat like Jenny was. Very soon the Cluster would overwhelm him, and then Nexus and he would be caught as well.

Jenny felt a bony hand seize her by the back of her head, followed by slamming her face into the ground.

"Uhhhh..." groaned Jenny, stunned by the pain of the attack. Sometimes having nerve endings _really_ sucked. Vexus stepped fully back into reality, lifting Jenny's head out of the ground and dragging her over to where Silver Shell and Nexus had been backed into a corner.

"I'm so disappointed in you girls." Vexus chided. With a growl she tossed Jenny's limp form at Silver Shell, who lowered his fists just in time to catch her. "You spend so much effort trying to foil a plan that is ultimately in your best interest, even if you don't totally comprehend it." Vexus paused, turning to look at Silver Shell. "_You_ I could care less about. Somebody go get the EM gun!"

"Right here mother!" exclaimed Brutus, emerging from the chaos of the promenade lugging the EM cannon behind him.

"Ah, good job Brutus. Do mommy a favor and put this one out of his mis-"

The room shook with a thunderous crash, an entire wall collapsing inward as a Cluster patrol craft came bursting in through the bulkhead. Everyone remained still, shocked at this sudden intrusion into the conflict. The ship's hatch swung open, and from it emerged an sleek white robot with black boots and black "briefs", with a colossal black cannon attached to his right forearm. Even the rioters paused, falling silent before this titan of robotkind.

"Queen Vexus! I am known as Megatron, mightiest of the Decepticons and defender of Earth! And I demand that you release Jenny!"

"Oh really?" laughed Vexus. "Brutus, give him a taste of our latest military achievement."

"At once mother!" exclaimed Brutus with glee, leveling the EM cannon at the approaching Megatron. Megatron stopped a few steps away from Brutus, and with his hands on his hips proceeded to laugh in Brutus' face.

"Go ahead and try, speck!" Megatron bellowed. Brutus growled, and fired the cannon point black into Megatron's chest, a burst of light forcing everyone present to momentarily look away. When they looked again, Megatron was still standing tall, and reached forward to grab the EM cannon by the muzzle.

"Fool! Your weapons are like toys against the might of Earth's champion."

"Mother, help me!" shrieked Brutus, struggling to pull the EM cannon away from Megatron's grip.

Vexus snarled. "I don't care who you are, you will leave my boy alone!" Vexus slashed open another dimensional tear, ducking into it and disappearing from sight as soon as it sealed up behind her.

"Give it! C'mon!" screamed Brutus, as he and Megatron tugged the EM cannon back and forth between them.

"No! You give it!" returned Megatron, struggling to pull the weapon away. His attention occupied, Megatron failed to notice the fabric of space burst open behind him, an enraged Vexus emerging with her fangs bared and talons poised to strike. Just as Vexus attacked, Megatron gave a mighty heave, coincidentally occurring at exactly the same moment that Brutus' grip slipped, releasing the EM gun.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, each party aware but unable to alter the course of events. Megatron slipped backwards, pulling the EM cannon with him. As he fell, Vexus' claws slashed out, determined to slice the intruder in two, but missing their mark and cutting into the weapon instead. The housing of the EM gun tore open like paper, and from the rip an electromagnetic pulse was channeled directly into Vexus.

Right before her son's eyes, Vexus shook and went limp, her pupils dilating and her eyes rolling up into her head. The last anyone saw of the dreaded Cluster Queen was her comatose body dropping backwards into the portal she had emerged from, seconds before it closed up into nothingness. The only evidence that Vexus had ever been there at all were the claw marks on the ruined EM cannon.

"**NNOOOO! **Mommy!" screamed Brutus, falling to his knees with tears welling up in his eyes. Jenny, by now having recovered her wits, ran over to the toppled Megatron lying on the floor, Silver Shell and Nexus following close behind. Jenny crouched down to see if the robotic hero was ok... and was shocked to see Megatron reach up and remove his head.

The smiling face of Brad beamed up at her, sweating and shaken, but otherwise fine.

"Brad!" Jenny exclaimed happily.

Brad looked up at her, and calmly replied "Jen... you're naked."

"Yeah... I know!" Jenny sighed while rolling her eyes. Jenny hugged Brad tightly, then looked down at the robotic body he still wore. "So what's all this?" she asked, when Sheldon interrupted.

"_That_ is a limited edition, _'Megatron of the Decepticons'_ plastic Halloween costume circa 1989, which has been removed from it's original packaging, _ruining_ it's collector's value!"

Brad just grinned sheepishly. "Sorry bud... raiding your _Transformers_ collection was one of the key points of my rescue plan. But hey, it worked right?"

Sheldon grumbled, but was silenced when Brutus' voice broke into the group's reunion. "Hate to interrupt, but you're all under arrest! If Vexus is gone, that leaves **ME** in charge!" Behind Brutus stood what remained of the Queen's soldiers, about thirty all together. Still, Jenny, Silver Shell and Nexus were all weakened by various degrees, and their ace in the hole had just been revealed to be a powerless human. All around them the Cluster citizens watched, remaining neutral until one group emerged as the victor. And Brutus knew this. "You, human, will pay the price for what you have done. I think I'll send you to the chefs, to be processed into a new batch of clustard..."

"Or you would," answered Brad, Nexus helping him to his feet, "except that I still have one more trick up my sleeve." Before Brutus could react, Brad raised two fingers to his mouth and blew a sharp whistle.

Moments later, a hulking figure came lumbering out of the crashed Cluster shuttle that Brad had emerged from. "Kenny?" started Jenny, recognizing her old ex-boyfriend.

"Oh, hey Jenny! Uhh... did you know that you're naked right now...?"

"**I. KNOW.**" stated Jenny through tightly gritted teeth, making a small effort to cover up by holding her hands over her small breasts.

"Kenny, care to clear us an exit?" asked Brad politely. Kenny nodded and passed Brad a mock salute, then proceeded to unfurl a veritable arsenal of weapons from his arms, shoulders and torso. In less then 30 seconds Brutus' forces had been zapped, shot, blasted, fried and disintegrated by various beams and projectiles from Kenny's armament.

Somehow, Brutus himself managed to dodge and weave past the worst of it, and sprinted towards Nexus. With an unexpected burst of agility, Brutus sprang past Jenny and Sheldon, leaping onto his sister's front and clinging to her collar. A quick flick of the wrist produced a wicked looking blade from Brutus' forearm, which he pressed firmly against Nexus' throat. "Everyone get away from me! I'll kill her, I swear! Nobody move aURK!"

Brutus was roughly yanked off of his older sister, Kenny's large hand seizing him by the scruff of his neck. Kenny turned the shrimpy prince around to face him, keeping him suspended off the ground.

"That's no way to treat a **lady**." lectured Kenny, glowering down at Brutus. Brutus said nothing, but could only quiver in fear, and soon enough sprang a leak, which dribbled down onto Kenny's feet. Kenny's eyes shone red, and his face began to change, taking on a feral, even _canine_ shape to it. The others looked away, hearing only Kenny's growls and Brutus' mewls of fear. A few moments later Kenny had returned to his more human look, and Brutus looked as though he'd been run over by a truck.

"Thank you..." said Nexus, approaching Kenny and placing a hand on his arm.

"You're welcome, ma'am." Kenny smiled pleasantly.

Brad sat up, "I suppose you two never were formally introduced. Kenny, Nexus. Nexus, meet Kenny." Both Kenny and Nexus hadn't taken their eyes off of each other though, and the other three noticed, exchanging a silent look between them.

"Come on," said Jenny, "Let's get home. I really need to get some clean clothes on me."

"Yeah, what's up with that by the way?" asked Brad, removing the Megatron costume and passing the chest and crotch pieces over to Jenny to put on until they could locate her real clothes.

"Long story short... the Cluster took my clothes. I'll explain more some other time. For now I just want to get back to Earth." Jenny started walking towards Brad's shuttle, then stopped and turned to address Kenny and Nexus who had been quietly conversing between themselves. "You coming Kenny?" she asked, noticing that Kenny was holding Nexus' hand.

"Actually guys, I think I'm going to stay here for a while." he answered, surprising everyone. "I've never had the kind of freedom that you've had Jenny, to see the world or explore outer space. Since my dad pulled me out of school, I barely get to leave the house. I think I would like to see more of the Cluster."

Nexus stepped forward, further explaining "With Vexus and Brutus out of the picture, I'm the only remaining member of the royal family. Kenny's strength would be helpful for routing out any remaining loyalists still around, but honestly..." she swept a hand out to indicate the gathered masses of commoners, many of whom were cheering for Nexus' victory. "I don't think I'll have any real trouble with that."

"Well, if that's what you want." smiled Jenny.

One by one the group said their goodbyes. Jenny gave Kenny a kiss on the cheek "for old times sake", and exchanged contact info with Nexus, promising to stay in touch. Sheldon gave Nexus a quick hug goodbye, and he and Kenny performed the secret handshake they had invented while competing at the Robotics Expo. Brad shook Kenny's hand and thanked him for all his help with the rescue operation, then said goodbye to Nexus, who pulled him close and whispered to him that he should stop by sometime so she could give him a more "private thank you" for saving her and the Cluster from Vexus' tyranny.

A few hours later, Jenny Sheldon and Brad were headed home in a short range Cluster spacecraft. Sheldon and Brad chatted casually about their adventure, while Jenny remained unusually quiet. In truth, she was concentrating on tracking down the source of her missing 15 of her energy output by performing a full internal systems diagnostic.

Just as Sheldon and Brad got to the point where the conversation had turned to a discussion of vintage _Transformers _episodes, they were silenced when Jenny suddenly gasped in shock.

She had discovered where the missing 15 was going.


	14. Chapter 14

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 14**_

Tiff sighed, and threw back another swig of her drink.

Once again, it was Friday night and she and her cousin Brit were hitting the town, hard. The first few hours were usually dance clubs and trendy bars, where guys would buy them drinks in exchange for a dance or the opportunity to try out a pick up line or two. And now this evening had reached the inevitable conclusion that so many had before it; Brit picked up a suitor that met the rigorous balance of physical attractiveness and wallet size, while Tiff was left with whatever wingman the guy had been out clubbing with. The four of them headed to the guys' apartment, so Brit could indulge her tastes while Tiff was expected to "entertain" the leftovers.

"If you want to keep clubbing with me, you have to maintain our reputation. I don't want to go home alone because people think the Crust girls don't put out, do you?" Brit had once explained to her. Tiff honestly wouldn't mind going home alone, or even skipping the night scene altogether once in awhile. But in all honesty, what else could she do? The other kids at school _feared_ Tiff, not liked her, and Brit was the one keeping them both at the top of the social hierarchy.

"So, think your friend in there is enjoying herself?" asked Steve, or Stan, or something. Tiff forgot what his name was exactly. Tiff paused in silence, listening to the sounds drifting through the wall.

"_unn, fuck me hard, stud! Pound my tight snatch!"_ came Brit's muffled voice, and Tiff thought she could almost make out the wet smacking of flesh as Brit's date granted her request.

"Sounds like she is." grumbled Tiff, finishing her drink off with a gulp and slamming the glass down on the table. Turning her attention back to "Steve", Tiff saw that he had slid across the couch, closing the distance between them and allowing his arm to half-encircle her shoulders. Tiff smelt the alcohol on his breath when he spoke, "So how about we enjoy ourselves out here, too?"

Before Tiff could respond, Steve leaned forward and kisses her lips. Ah well, it was gonna happen eventually, Tiff figured. Besides, she had managed to get about 45 dollars worth of drinks, food and cab fare from this one already, that's about as good as Tiff ever got. Unlike Brit, who often walked away with gifts of jewelry or expensive clothing. Tiff opened her mouth and began tongue wrestling, her mind not really concentrating on the task at hand. She was more concerned with listening to Brit's moans, hoping that her cousin would finish before she had to pleasure the guy currently pawing at her breasts.

"Why don't we lose these clothes and get busy..." growled Steve, his breath hot against Tiff's neck.

"How about..." Tiff purred insincerely, using one hand to gently push against his chest to give her some room, "... you start by getting me ready for you?" Tiff unzipped the front of her shorts, indicating what she wanted.

Steve was only too happy to oblige, lowering his face to Tiff's groin as he stripped her shorts and panties off her. Tiff leaned back against the arm of the couch and spread her legs open, giving him full access to her damp pussy. "Dig in babe, and maybe I'll return the favor." Tiff whispered in a husky voice, spreading her labia open with two fingers. Seconds later Steve was eagerly lapping at Tiff's pussy, dragging his tongue over her lips and clit while his nose pushed through Tiff's black pubic hair.

There, that should keep him busy for awhile. Most men _did_ want to please their lover, Tiff found, as long as they were sober enough to remember. Tiff held onto his head with both hands, pushing his mouth more firmly against her sex, which encouraged Steve to tongue-fuck her even more aggressively. Tiff shivered in pleasure, her clit buzzing with sensation each time it was licked. Ok, so maybe with wasn't all bad, even if Brit did get the cuter one. Closing her eyes, Tiff sank deeper into the couch cushions and relaxed, eventually feeling the first faint tingles of an orgasm starting to build deep in between her hips. Time melted away for Tiffany Crust, the building heat between her legs the only thing occupying her mind. Until, abruptly, Brit emerged from the bedroom.

"Tiff, knock that off for a minute, I need to talk to you." stated Brit sharply, causing Tiff's eyes to snap open in surprise. Brit had intruded just as Tiff was about to climax, and now that Steve had paused in his work, Tiff's orgasm was quickly becoming farther and farther away. Steve was clearly distracted by Brit's state of undress... she was wearing only a shear pair of lace panties, and her lover's housecoat casually left wide open in front.

"What do you make of this? It started beeping in my purse all of a sudden." Brit held out the Silver Shell's remote control, which Tiff had stolen some time ago, a blinking red light flashing insistently.

"Dang cuz, can't it wait?!" growled Tiff, frustrated. Steve (or maybe it was Stan after all, now that she thought about it) had ceased licking her, sitting up possibly out of politeness, but more likely in order to catch an eyeful of Brit's almost naked body. Tiff caught the remote as Brit tossed it to her, giving it a cursory inspection.

"I've been waiting, Tiff. I've been watching you for a full ten minutes. But Kyle's fallen asleep, and there's only so long I can watch you being eaten out before I get bored." Brit say down on the couch, wedging herself in between "Steve" and Tiff.

"You were watching me...?" asked Tiff, suddenly uncomfortable, closing her legs and sitting up.

Putting that disturbing thought aside for the moment, Tiff fiddled with the remote. The sooner she figured this out the sooner she could have some privacy and get off.

"Does this mean we're not gonna have sex?" asked Steve, thoroughly confused by the situation. Brit slipped one leg over his and sensually stroked a hand across his cheek, purring.

"Oh, I think I can accommodate you while Tiff is occupied..." into his ear. Boldly, Brit reached into Steve's fly and fished out his hardened cock, stroking it's length a few times while she licked her lips and stared into his eyes. Brit rose up from her seat, stating "Let's go into the bedroom, you're friend Kyle is out cold so he won't notice. I want to get this dick inside of me right now." before leading the lust-struck man in by his cock.

The door closed behind them, and Tiff let out a string of curses. Left out to dry (literally) once again.

Just then, Brit poked her head out from the bedroom. "When you figure out what's up with the remote, come tell me right away. If there's something new I need to know about XJ-9, I want to know as soon as possible. And, don't mind if you hear me screaming in here, I'm probably just faking it anyway. Probably."

Tiff frowned, "How come _I_ hafta do this? I was just about to cream mah jeans when you interrupted. Besides, you already had Kyle, the cuter one!"

Brit scoffed dismissively, replying "Well one of us must keep the boy entertained while we solve this mystery, right? And you know _I'm_ no good with electronics." Brit ducked back into the bedroom, the door slamming shut behind her.

"What makes you think I am?!" shouted Tiff, not knowing if Brit even heard her. Frustrated, and not seeing any alternative, Tiff spread her thighs open and began stroking her clit with the fingers of her left hand. As she halfheartedly masturbated to relieve the pressure that the oral sex had built up, Tiff fiddled with the remote, in no hurry to find the answer.

Twenty minutes later, Brit was just finishing up with her second lay of the night. Stan (he had corrected Brit when she started screaming "Steve!" during sex) was stretched out on the bed fully relaxed, and nearby Kyle was passed out on the floor from alcohol and sexual exhaustion, sleeping soundly. Brit hunched over, flexing her vaginal muscles to push the deposit of sperm in her cunt out onto a wad of tissues in her hand. She was on the pill, of course, as Brit would be damned if she allowed a condom to get between her and the pleasure she craved. Brit finished dabbing up the last of it when Tiff opened the door, fully dressed and cautiously entering while trying to avert her eyes from Brit's naked body.

"It's ok to look cousin." said Brit confidently, standing with a hand on her hip and her sizable chest pushed forward. "I know I have a much nicer body then you, some feelings of jealousy are only natural. You don't have to feel ashamed of them."

Tiff just glowered, shoving the remote at Brit.

"The blinkin' was part o' the remote turning isself back on, it started up when Silver Shell came back into its range. And there's something else too..." Tiff reached forward and flipped a small switch on the side of the remote. Instantly, the remote tuned into some transmission, voices issuing from the back as if it were a radio. "It's transmitting everything he hears through the remote."

Brit grinned, "So we can spy on them! Excellent... ahh, Tiffany... why is the remote sticky?"

Brit thought she saw Tiff blushing a little as she answered, "I also found out... it has a vibrate function too."

* * *

Mrs. Wakeman hummed pleasantly to herself, smiling at the day's pleasant fall weather as she fixed her breakfast at the kitchen counter. The weather was remaining unseasonably warm for this far into October. Nora held out hope that maybe it would remain warm all the way into Halloween, which was coming up next week.

Pouring a cup of coffee for herself and heading for the kitchen table, she broke from humming into full song instead. "Bad, bad, Leroy Brown. Baddest man in the whole _daaamn _town..."

Nora was halfway through her meal when it occurred to her to rouse her lazy daughter from her bed. Ever since she had returned from her latest adventure in space several days ago, Jenny had been sleeping in and generally moping around the house even when she was awake. Just as she was about to get up to walk to the intercom, Jenny's clanking footsteps coming down the staircase let her know that "ol' lazybolts" had saved her the effort. When Jenny rounded the corner and slumped her way to the breakfast table however, her Nora's humor was instantly replaced with motherly concern.

"XJ9, are you quite alright? You look as though you haven't slept at all! Have you been having all-night parties again?" inquired Mrs. Wakeman with a stern eye. Nora was referring to the last time she had seen Jenny looking this bad, when Jenny had converted their backyard tool shed into a popular hangout.

The reference was not lost on Jenny... she did look much as she had after several days of straight partying. Her eyelids drooped over off-colour eyes, her hair was hanging at odd angles, and her clothing wasn't 0 correctly attached, leaving her generally in a disheveled state. Jenny slumped forward onto the table, resting her head on her hands.

"I'm fine mom... I just didn't recharge fully last night. I must have woken up a few times from bad dreams or something." Jenny was lying, somewhat. She really had been kept up by unpleasant dreams and worried thoughts, but that wasn't telling the whole story. The truth was that her stress was a result of finding out where the missing 15 of her power supply had been going. Jenny tentatively placed a hand against her abdomen, momentarily lost in thought.

Mrs. Wakeman wasn't completely convinced, but trusted her daughter enough to let it be for now.

"Well, a proper breakfast to start the day will fix that problem!" she beamed, rushing to the fridge where she kept the various fuel cells prepared for Jenny's consumption. Throwing together a healthy mixture of carbon-fuels and adding a small drizzle of liquefied radio-isotopes for flavor, Nora presented the complete breakfast for Jenny's approval.

To her mother's disappointment, Jenny pushed the plate away hastily, wrinkling her nose with a frown.

"Sorry mom, I don't have much of an appetite today."

"How can you not XJ9? You've barely been touching any of your meals recently... you haven't picked up one of those ridiculous fad diets from the girls at school have you?"

Jenny didn't reply, merely shaking her head and looking at the plate with visible distaste. Never one to give up easily, Nora plumbed the depths of the freezer, pulling something small and glowing from the back.

"Look what I've got hunny..." She held the beaker aloft, displaying the black liquid contained within and an "X" labeled on the side. Nora proceeded to pour the contents of the beaker over the fuel Jenny had previously turned down, coating it in the thick syrupy chemical. "I'd been saving this batch of _Utonium's finest_ for your birthday, but I know a good cause when I see one."

Nora eagerly lifted the plate and held it inches from Jenny's face, hoping to entice her. As soon as the overly-sweet scent of the mixture flooded Jenny's senses, she cupped her hands over her mouth and fought the urge to retch.

"Come on now XJ9, it's your favorite!" urged Nora. Her hopes were crushed as Jenny bolted from her chair, inadvertently knocking the plate onto the floor in the process, and dashed to the nearby kitchen sink.

"**Warning! Emergency purge of undigested fuel in progress! Contents of stomach will be jettisoned in 3, 2, 1!**" came an mechanical voice from Jenny's midsection, immediately followed by the sounds of last night's dinner being vomited up into the sink. Mrs. Wakeman attempted to comfort Jenny as she continued to be violently ill, then cleaned up the uneaten breakfast from off the floor as Jenny gathered her bearings.

Finally, Jenny wiped her mouth and left the sink, her mother leading her to the comfort of the living room couch. A few minutes of motherly fussing later, Jenny was bundled in soft blankets and had a thermometer protruding from her mouth. Nora stood at Jenny's side, having fetched a travel-bag filled with lab equipment.

"Well, your temperature and pressure are normal. No tachyons to signify a temporal displacement or neutrinos caused by faster-than-light sickness... Jenny, what other symptoms have you noticed?"

Jenny shrugged. "I've mostly just been tired a lot. Nothing else to speak of really..."

Nora linked her PDA to Jenny's CPU and ran a quick check for viruses, worms, or even (she shuddered to think) spyware, but detected none. Despite having a healthy immune system, Jenny was strictly forbidden from using the internet, for fear that she would contract some form of malicious programming that her system couldn't fight off. Perhaps she had picked up something from that alien ship...

"XJ9, when you were with the Cluster, did you... interface with any of the robots there?"

Jenny averted her eyes, twiddling her fingers together nervously.

"Well... a little..." she said meekly.

The memory of her rape by Brutus' bodyguards was still fresh in Jenny's mind, and she had not figured out exactly how to deal with it yet. For the time being, she had chosen not to speak or even think about it until she could organize her thoughts. She knew the Cluster guards were not responsible for her... _ahem_, delicate condition, so ignoring them seemed like the most practical option at the moment.

"XJ9, I'm disappointed in you! I thought I programmed you to be aware of the dangers that strange robots represented." Her mother lectured, "That's why I always told you to wait until the third date before you kiss, and wait until you've met his creator before you exchange data. Now open your mouth and say 'ahhh'," added Nora, raising an adapter cable to link to Jenny's oral drive to check for damage.

Jenny frowned, taking a moment to choose her words carefully. "That's... not the port we used mom..."

Jenny watched as the colour drained from her mother's face, then was replaced by a flush of red, then gradually calmed back to it's regular tone.

"Well, let's see it then..." Nora said quietly. Jenny grimaced, recognizing the first stage of her mother being upset. First she would try to maintain a scientific detachment, then she'd scold Jenny in an increasingly parental manner, then it'd end in a shouting match when Jenny stormed off to her room and Nora retreated to her lab.

As unpleasant as all that would be, at least when it was over Jenny would have someone she could talk to about all this, and what to do next. Jenny did as she was asked, removing the blanket and hiking her skirt up, then removing her thong and spreading her legs to allow her mother access. Saying nothing, Mrs. Wakeman located the small data port hidden between the lips of Jenny's sex, just slightly above the entrance to her vagina. Plugging in the cable, Nora performed a full diagnostic with her PDA, then packed up her equipment and pulled the blanket back over Jenny's legs.

"Well young lady, I have good news and bad news for you."announced Mrs. Wakeman. Jenny sat still, afraid to say anything. "The good news is that you didn't pick up any viruses, or any other alien contamination I can detect. The symptoms you are experiencing are all perfectly natural for your body at this stage." She took a breath, and looking at her feet, continued. "The bad news is that you are pregnant. Your body has been diverting power to the construction systems that are building the XJ1's superstructure and endoskeleton, and the nanites are hard at work forming it's rudimentary brain. Your tolerance levels for fuel contaminants has been temporarily lowered during this delicate stage of construction, so the radiation-rich breakfast I fixed for you is what set off the automatic system purge."

None of this was really news to Jenny. She had discovered her pregnancy days ago while trying to track down an unexplained drain on her energy reserves. She hadn't expected the morning sickness though, so at least it was nice to have that explained to her. Jenny had known, but hadn't known quite how to tell anyone about it yet, even her mother. Now the secret was out before she was ready, and she would just have to deal with it as best she could.

"Jenny, how could you let this happen?" Nora cried, hiding her face in her hands and slipping her finger under her eyeglasses to wipe away the tears that threatened to burst forth. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about your reproductive capabilities! You're only a teenager. You're not even _ready_ to have a baby yet, you're just not properly equipped for it. But I trusted you, I thought you had matured enough to handle the responsibility."

Jenny gently put an arm around her mother, trying to comfort her without entirely understanding the problem. She had expected to be yelled at, and grounded, or maybe even removed from school. That she could handle, but this... her mother was crying, and it was her fault! Jenny felt _terrible_, her insides wrenched with a profound sense of shame and guilt.

"Come on mom, I didn't think it was **that** bad. I mean, you always told me that someday I would find the perfect boy to fall in love with and everything would happen naturally after that. So what could be bad about that?"

Nora honked her nose into a handkerchief, overcome with emotion. "Excuse me if I'm not thrilled about you falling for some Cluster flunky!" she sobbed, "I suppose this makes Vexus and I in-laws now?"

Jenny wanted to laugh at the notion, remembering how close she had come to marrying Brutus. "Yeah right mom! You don't have to worry about **that**. I wouldn't have a Cluster baby if you paid me!" Or, she thought to herself, made her royalty.

Mrs. Wakeman's crying slowed, reduced to sniffling. "Then who is the father? The only other robot from Earth that was in space with you... was..."

Jenny cracked a smile as realization dawned on her mother's face.

"Mm-hmm" Jenny said, nodding. "The father is Sheldon, or the Silver Shell, depending on how you look at it."

Nora dried her eyes, then put the handkerchief aside. "Well that does make me feel a little better, but this is still a very serious issue XJ-9. Does Sheldon know?"

Jenny shook her head.

"I wasn't sure how to tell him. Not to mention Brad! How am I going to tell him!? It was going to be hard enough breaking up with him before, but now he's going to know that it's because I cheated on him..."

"It will be very difficult for you both." advised Mrs. Wakeman. "But it's something you'll just have to face. And soon too... you won't be able to keep the pregnancy a secret when your belly starts to expand."

Jenny thoughtfully patted her belly, thinking about the young robot being built within. "Do I though? If you think I'm too young to handle this responsibility... maybe I am. Couldn't you just fix it? Open me up and take the baby out before it can finish growing, and just turn it off?"

"Not on your life, XJ-9!" Nora responded, folding her arms across her chest. "Interrupting the gestation would destroy the nanites and cause near instant brain death as the poor thing's brain collapses in on itself."

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, but her mother cut her off, anticipating her objection. "And before you suggest that it is just a mass of metal and circuitry and isn't truly alive until it's activated, let me just remind you that the same was said of **you** once upon a time. Aren't you glad I listened to my own sense instead of the tiny minds of the government bureaucracy? They were afraid of what you might become when you grew up."

"But couldn't we just put the process on pause for a little while, at least long enough for me to figure out how to explain it to Brad?" pleaded Jenny "Or, maybe we could even leave it until my relationship with Brad ends in a more normal way, then I can date Sheldon and we'll start it up again as if I'd only gotten pregnant then."

Her mother however, shook her head with a firm 'no'.

"I'm afraid there are other things to consider as well. For example..." Nora took a hand-held electric screwdriver from her bag of equipment and approached Jenny's midsection with it, attempting to unscrew Jenny's belly-bolt. As soon as the tool touched Jenny's synthetic skin, Jenny's hand lashed out, knocking the screwdriver from Nora's grasp.

"Oh my!" gasped Jenny, surprised at her own actions.

Nora fetched the screwdriver and put it back in her bag, saying "That's quite all right XJ9. It's just your maternal programming asserting itself. Try as you might, you cannot fight your hardwired directive to protect your offspring. Thank goodness I hadn't been holding a cutting tool, you'd probably have broken my arm!"

Jenny sighed and slumped back against the couch, resting her hands on her abdomen and peering at it, as if she might be able to see the ongoing construction of her child if she looked hard enough.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier mom, I'm just really scared about this. I keep wondering if I made a huge mistake, if Sheldon really is my true love, if... well there are a lot of ifs."

Nora smiled and hugged her daughter reassuringly. "There will be many times in your life when you find yourself at a crossroads like this. It's never easy, but it does help when you have family and friends there to support you. But don't worry yourself to death over the pregnancy... Motherhood is a richly rewarding experience, after all. And I'll be there every step of the way to handle any complications. This is the first time the reproduction procedure has been used, remember." Nora patted Jenny's belly, her earlier sadness completely replaced by a sort of giddiness.

"I must confess I'm somewhat jealous of your position, XJ-9. I built you manually, so I never had quite the same mother/daughter experience that you will have with your XJ1. This is a very exciting time for you, with lots for us both to do. And you can start by informing Sheldon that he's going to be a father soon. I'll check on you to make sure you've told him before the end of the weekend."

"Check up on me... you mean you won't be there?" asked Jenny, surprised.

Nora picked herself up off the couch, answering "No, I'm much to busy! Thanks to this news, I've just had my entire schedule rearranged to help you prepare for the XJ1. I'll be up to my eyeballs in schematics for days now!" and with that she trotted off to her lab, filled with a newfound inspiration to create.

* * *

Flipping from channel to channel, Tiff Crust was growing increasingly bored. Not much was on tonight... or at least, nothing she hadn't already watched before. Tiff tuned in to some professional wrestling and sat back to watch. She didn't normally follow the "sport", but muscular sweaty men was muscular sweaty men, plus there was plenty of gratuitous violence involved. At least it would keep her entertained until she went to bed.

"Tiffany, turn that down! I'm trying to hear what Silver Shell is saying." barked Brit, stretched out on her bed.

Brit and Tiff shared a bedroom, and had ever since Tiff had come to live with Brit's family when she was little. Brit's family easily had the money to give them each their own room, but the two cousins had always been especially close, closer then most sisters. Neither had a problem with changing in front of the other, and they shared everything.

Presently, both girls were dressed in pajamas and prepared for bed, passing the time until they decided to get to sleep. Tiff squatted in a beanbag chair watching television, while Brit was intent on listening to the radio function of Silver Shell's remote control.

"Are you still screwin' around with that thang? You know all he does is read books and watch Japanese cartoons. How is that interestin'?"

"Oh quiet Tiff, it's no different then when you were obsessed with that police scanner I got you for your birthday. Besides, right now he's over at Jenny's house... I heard her mom say Jenny had something important to tell him, and I plan to hear it. Now pipe down before I gag you!"

Brit returned her attention to the remote, laying on her front with her legs kicking in the air above her. Tiff turned off the television and sat on the bed next to her cousin, now interested as well. From the remote, they could hear Sheldon speaking in an obviously distressed tone.

"You're what?!" Sheldon yelped, prompting Jenny to repeat "Pregnant."

Tiff and Britt looked at each other, stunned.

"She got knocked up? Bwahahahahaha!" cackled Tiff. Avoiding pregnancy was like, the cardinal rule of sleeping with guys. Perhaps Jenny really hadn't learned all that much since they'd teased her back in September.

"Oh man..." Sheldon weezed, catching his breath. The cousins could hear the creak of a bed as he sat down, presumably next to Jenny.

"Are you mad?" asked Jenny, worried.

"No, I'm not mad Jenny. I'm not really anything yet, just trying to process the information still. I guess, if anything, I'm happy. I mean, this was something I always dreamed about doing with you. It's just a lot sooner then I thought, you know?"

Brit snickered. "He dreamed of having a robot baby? I think that's even more pathetic then spending your whole life jerking off to comic books."

"I do know what you mean." said Jenny, sympathetically. She was in the perfect position to relate. "But I want you to know, that I really meant what I said when we slept together... I really do love you, and I think you'll make a great father." Sheldon grunted a little and nodded, likely still deep in thought. After a pause, he spoke up again, "Well at least you'll be able to finish up the school year. 9 months later will be during the summer, right?"

"Actually, mom said it'd take closer to two months. I'm supposed to give birth a few days before Christmas, my uterus apparently is a lot more efficient then a human's. but I'm not allowed to fight crime in the meantime, so Silver Shell is going to have to pick up the slack, ok? And after it's born, mom is pulling me out of school. She says I can come back when it grows to an XJ3, so I don't think I'll miss more than a semester."

Tiff stood up on the bed, whooping and hollering her approval. "Oh yeah! Go Tiff, it's your birt-day! Now for real-real, jus fo' play-play!"

Brit wasn't nearly as loud about it, but she was quite pleased as well. Her lips curled into a smile, and inside her mind the wheels began turning as an idea occurred to her. There was no way she could resist an opportunity as big as this... It was time to call in every favor that was owed to her, use every ace she had held in reserve. When the moment was perfect, she would drive Jenny from the school forever. And that moment would be coming very, very soon.


	15. Chapter 15

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 15**_

Groggily, Jenny rubbed her eyes, prompting them to open fully.

Ever since she had become pregnant, Jenny was constantly feeling like she was running on fumes. The mornings were the worst, Jenny reflected, pulling herself out of bed and shuffling towards the bathroom, still half asleep. Maybe a quick shower would help wake her up.

Jenny disengaged her top, shrugging it off and hearing it hit the floor with a _clank_. She leaned on the sink for support to inspect herself in the mirror, hoping she looked better then she felt. Thankfully her fatigue wasn't terribly noticeable... her pigtails were cocked at odd angles, and her eyelids drooped. Other then that, Jenny looked basically norm...

"What the **FUCK?!**" shrieked Jenny, her eyes flying open in shock.

Staring back at her with equal disbelief, her mirror image was sporting a pair of D-cup sized breasts. Jenny looked down at her own chest and groped her new assets to confirm that this wasn't some dream or malfunction of her optic systems. Surely enough, the breasts were very real. Jenny could feel her own gropes through her nervous system, and the joint where the womanly organs met her torso was so seamless Jenny couldn't have known they were new if it were not for the fact she remembered falling asleep flat-chested the previous night. Jenny yelped when she pinched her left nipple, noting that it responded much the same as her original nipples had, extending out to expose the connector nodes to her internal battery. The only real difference was that these nipples were somewhat larger, keeping in proportion to her expanded chest.

"Mo-oooommmmm!" Jenny called out, stomping out of the bathroom and downstairs in search of her mother, Nora Wakeman.

"Yes, sweetie?" came Nora's voice from the den, a musical note in her words. Jenny stepped into the room where her mother was going over a pile of paperwork, blueprints from the look of them. Jenny stood there, naked from the waist up, motioning at her bust but unable to find the words to express herself. Finally Nora broke the silence, asking "Well, how do you like them?" with a smile on her face.

Jenny still hadn't made up her mind if she should be pleased or angry. Come to think of it, she'd been praying for a set of boobs like these ever since she'd been laughed at by Brit and Tiff and the other girls at school way back at the start of the semester. Her mother had probably heard her voice this wish once or twice, which would explain the big grin on her face right now.

"They are pretty nice... a little bigger then I had imagined..." she answered truthfully. But why had her mother attached them in the middle of the night? She had nearly fallen over on her ass from the shock of first seeing them in the mirror. "Really though mom... why now?"

Mrs. Wakeman shuffled through her papers, looking for one in particular. "Now that you've got a baby on the way, I thought it best to give you some time to get used to your new upgrade." She fished out a blueprint from the messy pile and handed it to Jenny. "Here, this explains the basics of it."

Jenny quirked an eyebrow, reading the sheet out loud. "**T**actile **I**nformation **T**ransferral **S**ystem?" The blueprints had a rough diagram of herself, sans breasts, with details on her formerly flat chest and erect little nipples. Beside her was a cross-section of her new rack, with arrows pointing out how it fit on over top of her old chest, hooking up to the electrodes on her original nipples to draw power.

Reading word for word from the blueprints, Jenny recited "The T.I.T.S. serve the double purpose of supplying the infant XJ1 with a refined and purified fuel at the same time as recharging its smaller energy supply. Most importantly, the up-link with the mother's mainframe allows the infant to download programming from the mother's accumulated experiences. Using this method, the XJ1 will be able to learn basic skills more rapidly (and thus more quickly progress to stage XJ2), while still receiving the benefit of programming that is learned rather than encoded. The obvious advantage being that learned programming is customized to the environment the mother inhabits, rather then a stock, generic program."

Jenny's mother beamed, proud of the ingenuity of her design.

"I don't get it." stated Jenny flatly, which deflated Nora's ego as quickly as her smile.

Sighing, she explained "To put it in simpler terms, my dear, if you breast feed your baby it will be healthier, smarter, and grow quicker. Easy enough to understand?"

Jenny nodded silently, still looking over the blueprints. Something else had piqued her curiosity. "Mom, this diagram of the XJ1 looks like me when I was that age, a big diapered egg shape. Is that what my baby is going to look like?"

"No, I don't really know what your child will look like XJ-9." Nora answered. "The reproductive system I built you with takes design specs from both parents and combines them into a functional hybrid of the two. Plus, your baby will be built with technology that wasn't available back when you were an XJ1. So I'd expect yours to be less chubby then you were, but who knows how Silver Shell's contribution will affect it. I hadn't anticipated the possibility of my XJ robot mating with someone else's model. I had intended to build a male robot for you myself, eventually."

Jenny stuck out her tongue in distaste. "Eww, you were gonna make me marry my brother? Gross."

"Oh hush. It doesn't have the same implications as with humans." began Nora, before being interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get that, you go get a top on. I'm sure that's your friends here to accompany you to school."

Jenny hurried upstairs while her mother opened the front door, having correctly guessed that it was Brad, Sheldon/Silver Shell, and Tuck there to walk to school with her, as they typically did. Well, Tuck didn't go to their high school yet, but his elementary school was only a short distance away, and Mrs. Carbunkle appreciated having their group of friends keeping Tuck safe from bullies and the like.

"Good morning Mrs. Wakeman. Is Jenny ready to go to school yet?" asked Tuck eagerly.

"No, " Nora answered "She's still getting herself together. Why don't you boys come in, she might be a minute or two." Jenny's friends accepted, stepping inside and engaging in small talk with their host. Finally, Nora heard Jenny coming down the staircase. "I should warn you boys, Jenny was given her latest upgrade last night..."

"Hommina hommina..." stuttered Brad as Jenny stepped into view. She had slipped on her traditional top, or at least tried to. With the increased size of her chest, Jenny's top was having a great deal of difficulty fitting properly. Even though it was capable of hundreds of variations to match Jenny's many exotic transformations, its default setting was still tailored to a chest that was essentially an A-cup. Now increased to a D, Jenny's breasts were compressed and threatening to burst out of her top at any moment. Even doing the best job she could, Jenny's cleavage was ample, the underside of her tits peeked out from the bottom of the top, and the front clamp keeping the entire top in one piece looked like was about to pop off at the first excuse.

"Jenny, ah... you look... different..." Sheldon tried, not sure much he should say while in Brad's presence.

Tuck had no such inhibitions, pointing and blurting out "You got boobies!"

"Aheh, yes, well..." Jenny stuttered, suddenly more then a little self-conscious.

Sensing her discomfort, her mother chimed in just in time to change the subject. "So Sheldon, you believe you're ready to return to school in your new form?"

Sheldon turned his attention away from Jenny just long enough to answer. "I'm still kinda nervous, but I think I'll be ok. Afterall, Tremorton accepted Jenny ...eventually. So what difference does one more robot make? I'm sure I'll blend right back in with my old computer club friends."

"You won't if you're in detention your first day back. We need to get going or we'll be late!" warned Tuck, checking his watch.

Jenny hurried the rest of the way down the staircase, heading straight for Brad's open arms. A few weeks into their relationship Jenny and Brad had grown comfortable greeting each other this way, with a tight hug and warm kiss. At first they tried to keep it private, but by now everyone they cared about already knew, so it seemed silly to hide their affection for each other.

Lately Jenny felt kind of awkward about it, now that her feelings for Brad had shifted to Sheldon instead. But she had to keep up the pretense of still being interested, for however long it would take her to break up with Brad. Until then, the sincerity wasn't hard to fake, and she would let Brad know soon... she just wasn't ready **yet**. Jenny wasn't willing to just blurt it out and risk ruining her oldest and deepest friendship.

Nearby, the other two boys waited for Jenny's public display of affection to finish. Jenny and Brad having gone out for weeks now, both Tuck and Sheldon had grown used to the sight of the two lovers locking lips each morning. Tuck passed the time by making exaggerated gagging sounds for his own amusement, and Sheldon just quietly tried not to watch, frowning deeply.

Brad tightened his hug slightly, pressing Jenny's newly expanded chest against his own. The softness and flexibility of Jenny's metal and silicon breasts was surprising... they felt as supple as any human girl he had felt up.

An audible_ squelch _sound made Jenny's eyes shoot open, her body suddenly stiff. Noticing, Brad pulled back from the kiss.

"Jen, what's wrong?" he asked. Jenny pulled away from him slowly, looking down at her chest. Twin wet spots capped each of her mounds, a black oil slick having leaked from Jenny's nipples, through her top, and leaving very noticeable stains on the front of Brad's shirt.

"I'm sorry Brad. Looks like I sprung a leak..."

"No, that's supposed to happen." corrected Jenny's mother. "You'll just have to be gentle with them. Come with me to the lab dear, I'll see if I can quickly tighten you up before school." She lead Jenny by the hand, off to the workshop.

"You guys go ahead without me, I'll see you at school!" Jenny called back.

Brad agreed while inspecting the damage to his shirt, "Yeah... I'm gonna duck into my house and change real fast too, you guys go on ahead."

* * *

Hours later, the streets were filled with the afternoon rush of students getting out of class and heading home, or to their local hangout. Jenny and Brad were no different, heading over to Mezmer's to cool off after school.

Mezmer's was technically a malt shop, serving ice cream and soda and everything in between, but thanks to a rather high-end jukebox the place had become known for its music and dancing more then its food. All that only got started once the sun went down though, for a mid-afternoon hangout it was reasonably uncrowded, which suited Jenny just fine.

All day she'd caught people ogling her new breasts, sometimes out of curiosity, or jealousy, or sometimes outright lust. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered or offended, but she certainly wasn't comfortable with it. Not yet at least. Jenny found herself unconsciously holding her arms over her chest defensively, ineffectively trying to shield them from leering eyes.

The couple entered the malt shop, hopping up onto a couple of empty bar stools and ordering something refreshing. Normally Jenny would just be forced to sit and watch while the human customers ate their meals, but recently the owner had been convinced to keep a small stock of chilled drinks that suited Jenny's metabolism. The local teen populace had to threaten to boycott the place before Mr. Mezmer would agree to it, but... the result was the same.

After receiving their drinks and chatting pleasantly for a while, Jenny's mood had lifted significantly. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed just spending time with Brad like this, as friends, without having romantic thoughts making things complicated.

Brad seemed in good spirits as well. Maybe now would be a good time to tell him about her and Sheldon. Certainly it wouldn't be easy, but at least he'd be in a good mood to receive the news. Well, no sense in ruining a fun afternoon earlier then necessary... Jenny decided to finish their drinks, then tell him later, as they prepared to leave.

"Well, fancy seeing you here..." came an icy, sarcastic voice from behind Jenny that she instantly recognized as her nemesis, Brittany Crust.

Jenny's mood soured immediately, and didn't even bother to turn to face her tormentor.

"What do you want, Brit?" Jenny snapped.

Brit feigned innocence, sauntering up to the bar behind Jenny, "Oh I'm not looking for anything myself, I'm just concerned about you. After all, given your delicate condition, I'm surprised your mother let you out of the house."

Jenny's pupils shrunk in sudden fear.

Brit knew. Jenny didn't know **how** Brit knew, but she did.

She had to keep this contained before Brit spilled the beans and Brad found out. Jenny immediately spun around on her stool to face Brit. Unfortunately Jenny was still getting used to the size of her new chest, and as she turned around her breasts swung out over the bar top and sent Brad's milkshake crashing to the ground. The loud noise drew the attention of everyone else in the restaurant, their conversations hushed as they watched the drama unfold between Brit and Jenny.

"Jenny, what's she talking about?" asked Brad, worried by Jenny's sudden change in demeanor.

"She hasn't told you yet?" smirked Brit, dancing around the subject, enjoying watching Jenny squirm. "Isn't that strange... you being her boyfriend and all. It's almost as if she wanted to hide it from you..."

"Brit!" Jenny yelled, "You'd better **shut** **up** **now** if you know what's good for you."

Jenny's fists were clenched in anger, her jaw making noises like that of a car grinding it's gears. The look in Jenny's eyes could make glass shatter, but Brit remained undaunted. She'd waited to long for today, planned to hard to get scared away now. Brit widened her fake smile, thickening her concerned tone of voice.

"Try not to let yourself get all riled up Jennifer... I hear that excess stress in an expectant mother can have negative effects on the baby."

Brad was shocked.

"**What** is she talking about Jen?" he demanded, through with being left in the dark. Jenny pivoted to face Brad (this time forcing Brit to take a step back, lest she be knocked over by Jenny's bust just as Brad's drink was.)

"Brad... I didn't want you to find out like this..."

Brad just folded his arms over his chest, frowning deeply. Well, too late to do this the nice way, thanks to Brit. Now Jenny was just hoping to minimize the damage to their friendship. "Brad, there's no easy way to say this..."

"Jenny got knocked up by Sheldon Lee!" Brit blurted out, grinning maliciously from ear to ear.

Jenny leaped from her seat, screaming "**Brit!**" and glaring angrily at the girl. Only Brad's hand on her shoulder stopped Jenny from launching herself at the manipulative Crust cousin.

"When did this happen Jen?" he asked quietly, his emotions visibly restrained.

"When we were hiding on board the Cluster ship... it wasn't anything I planned, it just kinda... happened."

Even though Jenny knew she needed to tell Brad the truth, she could see the pain in his eyes, and it was killing her to do this to him.

"So you're telling me you cheated on me?" he asked plainly.

"Well..." she offered lamely.

Brit took this opportunity to chime in again, unable to allow such a setup to pass without comment. "I guess she just couldn't resist his robotic charm."

Brad stopped Jenny before she could speak. "It's ok Jenny, Brit's right. You and Sheldon really are made for each other." Brad got up, slinging his jacket over one should and trudging towards the exit. "We're through."

Jenny watched him go, her mouth hanging open, speechless. His tone had made it obvious he wasn't willing to discuss this, at least not right now. Jenny had expected him to be hurt, but his final words to her forced her to question whether he was talking about their relationship ending... or everything.

Jenny slumped down onto her stool, suddenly very aware that all eyes were on her. Some remnant of her pride told her that it was important not to cry in front of everyone, but she was rapidly losing that struggle against the tide of emotion building up in her.

She was so stupid... for waiting this long to tell him, for having sex with Sheldon in the first place.

Maybe even for learning about sex in the first place. All it's done is screw up her happiness. Jenny slumped over the bar, burying her face in her arms.

"Aww, don't get upset Jenny." singsonged Brit Crust. "I've got something that will make you feel better."

Jenny peeked up at her cautiously. As much as she disliked Brit, her offer still held some glimmer of hope. Seeing she had Jenny's attention, Brit reached into her jacket and pulled out a handful of polaroids.

"Here you go... someone of great wisdom once said 'don't get mad, get even'. If that's true, then what could make you feel better then knowing that Brad was cheating on you the same as you were cheating on him?"

Jenny's eyes quickly scanned through the photos. Brad, kissing Brit. Brad, having Brit suck his cock. Brad, his wilted cock in Brit's hand with strings of his cum trailing to her lips. They painted a pretty clear picture of what had happened. Jenny was furious, except... this was no different then what she had done to him really. Each of them had betrayed the other, broken the trust they placed so much importance on.

"Then I guess..." she concluded aloud, "Our relationship was a fraud to begin with."

Music to Brit's ears. Jenny's heart was broken, and she was wallowing in misery. Brit hadn't imagined it would be this easy. She even had Tiff hidden in the crowd in case she needed backup, but the way things were going Tiff wouldn't have to show her face at all. Even if she left right now, Jenny probably wouldn't show her face at school for a week, for fear of running into Brad.

But it wasn't good enough. Eventually Jenny would recover, and return to school for a fresh start. Brit had to make sure Jenny was so utterly humiliated and defeated that she would never return. Now that she was in a vulnerable, receptive state, all Brit needed to do was push just the right buttons...

"You'll be happier with Sheldon anyhow." she said sympathetically, placing a hand on Jenny's shoulder.

"A human/robot relationship could never have worked anyway. You just didn't belong. But with Silver Shell, you'll have so much in common... you're both superheroes, both robots, both hopelessly outcast from conventional society. It's a match made in heaven. Or Silicon Valley, at the very least."

Jenny nodded meekly. She glanced around the restaurant at all the other people there, watching her pain like it was some sort of live drama put on for their benefit. They could never truly understand her, nor could she understand them. At one booth she spotted Don Prima; how many times had she attempted to impress him, only to be rebuffed again and again? It was all making a twisted sort of sense now... Jenny was to different to live amongst them, so she should turn to robot-kind instead.

Feeling weighed down, she picked up her things and took a couple of shuffling steps towards the door, her eyes cast down to the floor.

She didn't want to look at this place anymore.

This would likely be her last time here, so she wanted to remember it as she used to, during happier times.

"Your mother will be so proud." Brit called after her, one last subtle barb before Jenny could leave.

Jenny stopped walking, glaring behind her at Brit, who was tittering at her own joke. Then Jenny caught sight of that familiar gleam in Brit's eye, that glimmer of malicious intent that only showed itself when Brit was reveling in the defeat and humiliation of an enemy. Jenny's gaze fell upon the polaroids left on the bar.

Brit.

Jenny thought back to Brad's final words before leaving, heartbroken. "It's ok Jenny, Brit's right."

Brit's right. Brit.

"You just didn't belong." Brit's words echoed in Jenny's mind.

Brit. **Brit!**

"Brit, you _**bitch!**_" screamed Jenny, silencing the murmur of whispers that had begun to circulate amongst the crowd. Jenny turned on her heels right in the threshold of the doorway, storming back into the malt-shop and heading straight for her target. Gone was the confused mix of doubt and sorrow, replaced wholly with righteous fury. "You... you're the cause of all of this!"

Brit Crust wasn't looking quite as confident as she had a minute ago. What had happened? Jenny was as good as gone...

It wasn't to late, Brit told herself. Jenny could still be convinced to leave her current life behind. She just needed to adapt to the situation.

"Me? I'm not the one who slept with Silver Shell." Brit stated, throwing up her hands defensively, stalling for time while she thought up something better.

"You're right, I did. And I accept responsibility for what I did. I acted hastily, and I had to end my relationship with Brad prematurely because of it. It was supposed to be hard, but I could've _handled_ it."

"But you, you turned it into a train wreck! You had me convinced I should live apart from humans, cut off entirely from people. But you're wrong: I didn't sleep with Silver Shell, I slept with Sheldon. He's the one I fell in love with, the human personality on the inside. And my mother will be proud, because this is exactly what I was built for: to be a teenager. It can be tough sometimes, but learning how to live alongside others always is. That's how it is for every teenager, human or robot." Jenny concluded her speech with a confident smirk, proud of herself for seeing through Brit's manipulations. She placed her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest until her top creaked in protest at being under so much strain.

Brit was desperate to turn the situation to her advantage. Her plan had fallen apart so fast, but... no time for that now. The crowd was clearly on the fence; Jenny's speech and natural charm warred against the many slanders and xenophobic sentiments Brit had steadily fed them since Jenny started attending Tremorton High over a year ago.

Where was Tiff? She should be helping, riling up the crowd, or dousing Jenny with something nasty, or any of the plans they'd come up with. But the second Crust cousin was nowhere to be seen, seemingly having abandoned Brit to her fate.

Well, screw her, Brit didn't need her to get things done. But Brit needed to act now, before her control over the crowd dissolved completely. If she could get them to laugh at Jenny, something embarrassing enough to get everyone present to start mocking her, then it could snowball from there. If the crowd was against Jenny, perhaps she could be convinced that even if she still wanted to be a regular teen, the rest of Tremorton still wouldn't accept her.

Lacking any viable alternatives, Brit let out an angry screech and reached out to the tortured clasp holding Jenny's top together, tearing at it with all her strength.

Jenny's top sprang off so fast it seemed almost grateful to Brit for relieving it of its duty. The crowd gasped, Jenny's bare D-cup breasts jutting proudly forward for all to see.

Jenny felt a deep blush appearing in her cheeks.

Then the laughs began, small nervous laughter at first, but steadily rising as the crowd adopted it as the appropriate response for the situation. Brit stood back and grinned. She had rescued victory from the jaws of defeat. Then, as far as Brittany was concerned, a miracle occurred. Just then at the moment of Jenny's total humiliation, her own body betrayed her.

A robotic voice sounded from somewhere in Jenny's midsection. "Stage one of embryonic development complete. Prepare for restructuring of uterus and commencement of stage two."

Seemingly beyond her control, Jenny's abdomen suddenly distended. Not a great deal, but still producing a noticeable swelling, approximately that of a human woman during the 5th month of pregnancy. What was worse was that Jenny's skirt was no more designed to handle this change than her top was equipped to handle T.I.T.S.

As soon as the swelling stopped, the stretched belt of the skirt snapped apart, dropping the garment to the floor and leaving Jenny standing in nothing more then her thong.

Everyone in attendance doubled their laughter, including Brit herself, who couldn't stop herself from holding her sides in a fit.

Brit laughing alongside everyone else was the last straw for Jenny. Up until now she was content to just play nice, be the bigger person, take the high road, and so on. But this was too much. Jenny had been hurt by plenty of monsters and villains, but none took pleasure from Jenny's pain the way the Brittany Crust did.

Now it was time to sink to Brit's level.

"So, you think that's funny, hunh?" growled Jenny, approaching Brit and hoisting her up by her collar. "Let's see how you like it then!" she challenged, right before ripping Brit's top clean off her body.

A few of the boys in the crowd instantly recognized what was about to go down. "Cat fight!" they called out in unison, heeding some instinctive call to make sure everyone within earshot witnessed the spectacle of two hot girls tearing each other's clothes off.

Don Prima himself shot a quick glance around the room, declaring "If anyone tries to break this up, I will personally punch them in the face. I kid you not."

Meanwhile, Brit was being manhandled by the much physically superior Jenny. Brit's pants had been the next to go, shredded apart in Jenny's capable hands.

For her part, Brit was barely able to fight back; traditional tactics like pulling hair didn't work, as even Jenny's pigtails were stronger then Brit's arms. Brit had once attempted to twist Jenny's exposed nipples, hoping that such a sensitive area might be vulnerable to attack. The electric shock she'd received for her effort convinced Brit otherwise.

Now Jenny was just toying with her. Having turned the tables, Jenny was going to make sure Brit got every ounce of humiliation that had originally been intended for her. Jenny laughed when she pulled back on the elastic of Brit's bra, then released it to snap painfully against Brit's soft back, producing a yelp from the abused girl. Next Jenny tore the bra away entirely, leaving Brit as topless as she was. Brit struggled valiantly, but even her perfectly filed nails weren't enough to even scratch Jenny's armored skin.

Now for the coup de gras. Jenny reached behind Brit and grabbed the back of her panties, a skimpy pair of black bikini briefs with "If you can read this, lick harder!" printed on the front. Brit knew full well what was coming and for a brief instant locked eyes with Jenny, silently pleading for mercy.

Jenny had been pushed too far to turn back now.

Brit let out a shriek as the underwear was forcefully pulled back and up into the crack of her ass in a painful wedgie. Thinking that would be the last of it, Brit was caught by surprise when Jenny spun her around and repeated the process on her front, bunching up the front of her panties and hoisting them up between Brit's thin cunt lips. Jenny's strength lifted Brit right off the ground, and for a second it looked like Jenny was using Brit's panties to floss the crevice between her legs.

Brit was dropped to the floor in a quivering heap, and the tension seemed to drain out of the room. The fight was over, the winner decided. The crowd said nothing, and Jenny ignored them, bending over to pick up her ruined clothing.

Jenny was just about to leave when she heard Brit call out "Filthy robot whore!"

Jenny turned just in time to get a face full of her unfinished oil beverage. The fluid splashed her face and dripped down her chest, staining her pure white skin with ugly streaks of brown/black crude. Brit was practically naked, disheveled and looked like she had tears in her eyes, but was still defiant to the last.

"This isn't over, you wretched automation!"

Jenny understood now. This had been meant as their last showdown, and Brit was determined that **one** of them wouldn't be returning to Tremorton High. At this point, Brit didn't even care which of them left, so long as there was an end to the unbearable status quo.

So be it then, thought Jenny.

Jenny seized Brit in her vice grip, preventing any further attacks. First would be retribution; and eye for an eye. Lacking any more convenient beverages to dowse Brit with, she improvised. Giving her right breast a firm squeeze, Jenny's nipple spurted her body's oil right into Brit's face. Jenny caught a glimpse of one of the boys in the audience faint at the sight. Brit sputtered oil from her mouth, her eyes screwed tightly shut leaving her momentarily blinded. With that done, Jenny decided to leave Brit with something more permanent to remember this fight by. Extending a razor blade from her right hand, Jenny went to work. The crowd gasped in terror at Jenny's approach.

A few short minutes later, Brit cleared her sight enough to look at herself in a mirror. Jenny had left her completely bald.

* * *

Jenny finally got home under cover of darkness. Not because she had been held up, but because she still had enough modesty (even after the earlier cat fight) to want to avoid landing in front of her house in full daylight without any clothes.

The showdown with Brit had ended with Jenny the winner. As a final punishment Jenny had shoved her out of Mezmer's, preventing her from calling a cab or even borrowing a coat from one of the other customers. Jenny left shortly thereafter, remaining in the cover of a cloud bank until nightfall. Her expanded abdomen occupied her thoughts for most of the time, so it wasn't until she arrived at her home that her thoughts returned to Brad.

Looking at the house next door, and specifically at the window to Brad's room, Jenny realized that despite her victory, Brit had still succeeded in wounding Jenny worse then Vexus ever had. The immediate danger was passed, but the ramifications of Brit's scheming... that would take much more time and effort to recover from, if it was possible at all.

Jenny went inside and up to her room, suddenly feeling very thoroughly beaten.


	16. Chapter 16

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

_**by Toonspew**_

_**Chapter 16**_

Hiding in the shadows cast by a large oak and crouching behind a row of hedges, Tiff Crust paused.

A short distance ahead of her was her quarry, Brad Carbunkle, who was currently unaware that Tiff was stalking him. At least she thought so. She had made certain to leave at least twenty yards between them, and in Brad's emotional state he probably wasn't paying a lot of attention to his surroundings anyhow.

Brad tried to hide it, bottle it up, but Tiff could tell he was heartbroken inside. She had gotten pretty good at reading his expressions lately. The past few weeks, she had virtually been studying him; how he moved his arms when he talked when excited, the sound of his laugh, the way his eyes narrowed when he was annoyed. As soon as she spotted him in a classroom or on the street, she had to fight to keep her attention on anything else.

Of course, Tiff hadn't actually gathered the courage to speak to him. In the past she had treated him with the same rudeness she gave everyone else. It's what everyone expected from her, after all.

She was the school's tomboy punk chick. Even the jocks were afraid of Tiff, because everyone knew Tiff Crust fought _dirty_. That's what kept Tiff useful to Brit, and why Brit kept Tiff in the clique of the school's popular girls. Without that status, Tiff didn't have much.

Which is why she fought tooth and nail to protect her title as undisputed school bad-ass. And it was exactly that status that would be ruined if anyone knew Tiff had feelings for Brad. _Romantic_ feelings. So Tiff couldn't openly flirt with her crush, or even be at all nice to him.

But she could watch him, whether from across the cafeteria, in the middle of a school lesson, or from behind the cover of a bush, like right now.

Brad was heading past the school, off to somewhere secluded. Tiff continued to trail him, and before long she was able to figure out where Brad was going: the drive-in movie theater. Late afternoon as it was there was no one around, leaving the whole lot deserted for Brad to have some quiet introspection. Tiff guessed that Brad and Jenny may have had a date or two here as well, lending some personal significance to the spot.

Brad slumped down against a convenient speaker-post, looking languidly off into the distance. Tiff wasn't quite sure what to do next, and spent a few minutes silently observing Brad. Finally, just as Tiff was about to turn and skulk away unnoticed, she heard a choked sob come from Brad's direction.

Some instinct deep within Tiff fought it's way to the surface in that instant, temporarily suppressing the voices of fear and anxiety that told her to she was making a huge mistake.

"Hey," Tiff breathed, gently placing a hand on Brad's shoulder for a moment before taking a seat next to him.

Brad's expression was mixed; there were signs he had been upset, clearly, though Tiff didn't see any tears. He wasn't angry either, more confused than anything else. Tiff decided it would be best to tell him why she was there outright, before he had a chance to draw his own conclusion.

"I saw your breakup at Mezmer's. So I followed ya to make sure you was ok." she stated evenly, avoiding eye contact with Brad.

Brad crossed his arms over his chest, sucking in a lungful of air, bravely declaring "Well I'm fine. Why do _you_ care anyway? You're not exactly the most compassionate person I've ever known."

There was her rep at work. "Well there are _some people_ I care about. Like my cousin Brit, for an example." answered Tiff, hoping Brad would pick up on what she had just implied.

Unfortunately, he picked up on something else instead.

"Yeah, come to think of it, how come Brit isn't with you? You two are closer then most twins I know."

Brad was quickly growing more and more suspicious. Tiff couldn't blame him, as she had never given him any reason expect anything different from her.

Brad stood up and took a step away from Tiff, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Wait, Brit was right in the middle of things when I broke up with Jenny... I'll bet this is all one of your evil schemes, isn't it?!"

Tiff jumped to her feet, hurriedly making a placating gesture with her hands. "No it isn't! Well I mean, it kinda is, but you've gotta let me explain!"

Brad huffed, certainly in no mood for crap like this. Not today. Brad strode off at quick pace, frowning deeply, heading for home.

"Hey, wait! You're just gonna leave?" Tiff called, chasing after Brad.

"Yup." was his curt reply, keeping his gaze locked straight ahead to acknowledge Tiff as little as possible. Tiff, for her part, was right on Brad's heels, repeatedly attempting to explain herself but unable to slow Brad enough to get a full sentence out.

"Will you just stand still for a minute?" she growled, growing frustrated. Grimacing with distaste, Tiff even added " ...Please?", a true rarity for her.

"I'm not interested Tiff!" snapped Brad, casually flipping Tiff the middle finger.

Tiff felt her blood boil. **Nobody** flipped her off and got away with it!

With a cry of anger, Tiff launched herself at Brad's midsection, expertly tackling him to the dusty ground. Brad rolled over onto his back, pushing Tiff to the side, though she still maintained her grip around his waist. Brad pushed against her chest as hard as he could, but relented when it suddenly dawned on him that he was probably copping a feel of her breasts without realizing it.

"Get offa me you bitch!" yelled Brad, kicking her loose with a hard push from both legs that left her sprawled out on the ground. Brad turned over onto his hands and knees, but before rising his adversary had already leaped onto his back. Grabbing his wrists to pull his strength out from under him, Brad was flipped over his back by Tiff, but this time she secured him in place by holding his hands down at his groin, then seating herself heavily on top of them.

Brad gnashed his teeth at her in raw frustration, but Tiff's angry scowl didn't flinch. "I said please, ya jerk. I was tryin' to be friendly!"

Brad was understandably unbelieving. "Yeah right!" he angrily spat, "why would the meanest girl in school suddenly want to be nice to me?"

"'Cause **I like you**, ok?!" Tiff practically screamed back at him, then suddenly pressed her lips forcefully against his, silence instantly replacing their escalating argument.

A moment was lost in time, Brad's mind reeling while Tiff just enjoyed the kiss, and the sensation of having her body pressed so closely against his. Finally she pulled back, taking a breath, suddenly afraid of what would happen next.

There was no taking back what had just happened... what would Brad's reaction be?

Brad looked up at her, his face still registering shock. All his previous perceptions of Tiff had just been shattered, so he took a moment to look at her completely fresh. Shining black hair curved down to frame her face, stopping halfway down a slender neck, and was held back to show off a trio of piercings in each ear. Nice bright eyes with exceptional lashes, highlighted with a touch of mascara were the first thing he noticed about her face, which was actually not bad to look at when she was smiling. Brad could see Tiff was watching him as well, so deigned not to look down at the size of her chest. Though, since Tiff's breasts were pressing against his torso at the moment, Brad felt they must certainly be big _enough_.

Cautiously, Brad allowed himself to smile, aware that a blush was coming to his cheeks at the same time.

Sensing he wouldn't try to run away again, Tiff reluctantly pulled herself off of Brad. "Sorry..." she mumbled, embarrassed by her actions. Brad sat up, leaving less personal space between them than usual.

"I... didn't mind... the kiss, I mean." he offered. Tiff and he caught each other's gaze, both teens feeling something hanging in the air between them. Tiff thought her heart was about to thump its way right through her ribs when Brad thankfully changed the topic, instantly defusing some of the building sexual tension.

"So, what was it you were trying to tell me before? Something about Brit?"

Tiff frowned. "Ya. You asked if Brit bein' at the breakup was planned, and it was."

Brad looked unamused, so Tiff quickly continued.

"Brit had some big plan about how she was gonna get Jenny to drop out of school. It mostly worked around getting you to break up wit her, which I guess went like she wanted. I was there in case Silver Shell showed up at Mezmer's too. A while back I, ahh, got hold a his remote control whatsit."

Tiff purposely left that part vague, not eager to divulge the details of how she had stolen the remote after peeping on Brad and Jenny's lovemaking. Something told Tiff that any headway she had made with Brad just now would probably be ruined by that secret getting out.

"But Shell didn't show, so I was just supposed to wait and hide while Brit handled everything else. When I saw you heading off I decided to follow, cause..."

" ...Because you were worried about me." Brad finished for her, remembering from earlier. Tiff's situation oddly reminded him of Jenny and himself, in some strange parallel. Jenny had often kept Brad in the back lines, ignoring the contribution he could make to her crime-fighting for the sake of his "safety". Brad scoffed at the thought, sneering at the memory of Jenny, whom was far from his favorite person right now. Tiff's concern for his welfare was starting to seem pretty refreshing to Brad.

"So why does Brit want Jenny to drop out of school so bad?" asked Brad, leaning back on his hands.

"She's explain'd it to me before, but I'm not sure if I really get it. Sumthin' about how Jenny always manages to outperform her." Tiff looked upwards as she searched her memory, and counted off the points on her fingers as she recounted Brit's explanation as best as she was able.

"Brit says that if Jenny graduates and gets a job and stuff, then she might get a husband. An if that happens, then there might be more robot people like her made, then people start losing their jobs to robots, an their boyfriends to robot girls, and before you know it there ain't nobody havin kids the way they's supposed to cause their girlfriend is metal. And if they can't have a regular baby, then they might as well get themselves a robot baby, right? And the robot kids'd get better grades and be better behaved then regular kids, so soon everybody would get them. And the people wouldn't even realize, but they'll end up making the human race go eck-stinct jus' cause they didn't know any better."

Brad thought about this, following Brit's logic to some extent. So her plan was to prevent Jenny from finishing high school, thus preventing her further development and halting this "takeover" before it could happen.

"And what about you Tiff? If you're telling me this, you've got to know that I'll tell Jenny eventually, and Brit's plan won't work."

Tiff sighed, evidently still feeling remorse for going behind Brit's back as she had. "I dunno. I mean, I liked teasing Jenny cause she was weird lookin, and I held a grudge after she got Brit and me arrested that one time, but I don't hate her like Brit does."

"So I guess now you can go get back tahgether with Jenny." said Tiff, after some time had passed in silence.

Brad shook his head.

"Nah... I meant what I said. Me and Jenny are through. Brit may have caused the fight, but she isn't the reason Jenny is pregnant."

He caught a hopeful look cross Tiff's features.

"I suppose we can still be friends, of course. We'll see on that one. I don't much feel like talking to her right now, anyhow."

Brad turned his eyes down to his feet, feeling rather crummy. He was too much of a male to seek a shoulder to cry on, but he'd really love a distraction to take his mind off this right now.

"So what do ya feel like doin'?" asked Tiff. Her eyelashes fluttered shyly, and her legs were drawn up against her chest defensively. This was the first time Tiff had ever seemed the least bit vulnerable to Brad, and he found it made her seem much more feminine then she usually was. In fact, with the fading light of the sunset hitting her shy smile from one side, her eyes attentively watching every gesture he made, and just a brief glimpse of panties peeking out from under her skirt, Brad found Tiff quite fetching.

"Tiff, you feel like catching a movie?"

* * *

Brad walked Tiff back to her house so she could change out of her dust covered clothes and into something date-worthy, the two discussing their movie preferences the whole way there. It turned out that they had a lot in common; they both liked comedies for the gross-out jokes, horror movies for the gore (the cheesier the better), and sci-fi for the special effects. But the favorite genre of both Brad and Tiff was action/adventure films, with Tiff's preference being for violent cop movies while Brad preferred a slightly more stylish super-spy movie. They settled on seeing the latest "Shaft" sequel, since it added an element of campiness, just before they arrived at the front door of the Crust manor. Tiff planted a quick peck on Brad's cheek before going inside, Brad then heading for his place to borrow his dad's car.

Tiff went up to her room, practically floating on air. Today could not possibly have turned out better. She hadn't planned it, but somehow she was about to go out on a date with Brad Carbunkle. Somehow she didn't give a crap about what anyone at school thought of her anymore. Tiff was just about ready to burst into song when she got to her bedroom and flipped on the light.

"Brit!" shrieked Tiff, startled to see her cousin standing in the middle of the room, who had apparently been waiting in the dark for Tiff to arrive for who knows how long. Brit was wearing an expensive robe that she owned, something like a housecoat but with a hood that was currently pulled up over Brit's head.

"Where were you Tiffany?" growled Brit, advancing on Tiff. Tiff edged away from Brit, fearful of the vicious expression on Brit's face.

"Brit, what happened to you? Are you alright?" she asked, her voice mildly shaking. Brit flung open her robe, letting it fall to the ground. Underneath Brit wasn't wearing a single scrap of clothing, but more startling was the complete lack of hair. Brit had been expertly shaved, leaving her head smooth and round.

"Do I **look** alright to you?!" Brit shrieked. "I had to walk home from Mezmer's like this!"

Obviously the plan had taken a sharp turn for the worse after she had left to chase after Brad.

"Brit, what did Jenny do to you?" asked Tiff sympathetically, pulling the robe up over Brit's body and tying it shut. Brit fell into Tiff's arms and started sobbing out the story, editing out some of her meaner insults and embellishing XJ-9's enjoyment of Brit's suffering.

"And then," -_sob-_ "she pulled out a razor and shaved off all my hair,"_ -sob-_ "right in front of everyone!" -_sob-_ "I've never been so humiliated before."

Tiff lead her crying cousin over to the bed and sat down with her, still rubbing Brit's back reassuringly. "I can kinda get why Jenny shaved your head, but why- why'd she shave your bush?" Tiff asked incredulously.

Brit sniffled back her tears, shrugging "No, I did that... sense of symmetry, you know."

After some time and a lot of soothing words Brit seemed to be calming down, though she was still clutching Tiff rather tightly.

"Don't worry cuz, hair grows back... eventually." she cooed softly, gently removing herself from Brit's arms "And we can think up some kinda revenge plan... later." At last she pulled away and stood up, heading over to the closet to pick out an outfit.

"Later?" Brit asked, curling herself up into the blankets on the bed. "Why later?"

"Well, I'm... going out tonight." Tiff answered, "A boy asked me out on a date." Tiff held a pair of shorts up to compare it with a possible top she was considering.

While Tiff skimmed through the closet and prepared for her movie, Brit seemed to be muttering something to herself as she watched. By the time Tiff had picked out an outfit (black pants that rode low on her hips, magenta baby-T that showed off her midriff, and a matching kerchief in her hair) Brit was huddled inside the bedspread and intently watching Tiff as she dressed, babbling to herself. Although Tiff could only see Brit's nose and eyes peering out from under the covers, Brit's robe laying on the ground told her that Brit had stripped herself naked again.

"What the hell happened to you cuz?" Tiff asked aloud, though Brit didn't seem to hear it.

A honk from the driveway announced Brad's arrival. As soon as Tiff's hand touched the doorknob Brit shrieked. "You're leaving me?!" she yelped, panic in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm going on a date tonight. I told you that already, r'member?"

Brit only stared desperately back at Tiff.

"Look, I promise I'll come back before late ok? We'll stay up and watch one a' your girly-girl movies, an' braid each othe...euhh we'll paint each other's nails, ok? I promise."

This seemed to ease Brit down enough, and Tiff grabbed her purse and headed out to her date.

* * *

A short time later Tiff and Brad were parked in the drive in theater, attending "Shaft 8: Shaft goes Hollywood". The movie was exactly the sort of kitschy junk that both of them loved, but neither was paying it much attention. Twenty minutes into the movie the two had gone from holding hands to cuddling to playfully necking to full-on making out.

Originally Brad had intended this date merely as a distraction from his current dating woes, but somewhere between being on the rebound and being a hormone infused teenage male Brad had really gotten into this! At this point the film was only half over, and Brad and Tiff had already fogged up the car's windows.

Now in the back seat, Brad had his arms around Tiff's body and was gently stroking her back through her top, while Tiff meanwhile was almost hanging from around Brad's neck. Their eyes closed, both teenagers were focused entirely on the play of their tongues inside each other's mouth, and the erotic thrill they received from the simple tender contact.

After dating Jenny for close to two months, the touch of real human flesh seemed almost overwhelming to Brad. The surreal contact of her tongue and saliva inside his mouth, the warmth of her body melding with his own, and more then anything the **scent** of a real red-blooded girl was driving Brad wild. He would make sure she was completely willing before trying any "moves" on her, but damn if he didn't want to just yank her pants off and fuck her silly. Tiff was similarly impressed; she could hardly even remember kissing a boy that didn't taste like beer or weed. And Brad was being such a gentleman about it; they must've been kissing for close to an hour, and he hadn't so much as groped her breasts yet.

The waiting was making her crave it even more.

Tiff's nipples were rock hard inside her bra, and they ached to be touched so much she was grinding her chest against Brad's, stroking the stiff nubbins back and forth across his pecs. When Brad's hand actually slid down her back and touched the bare skin just above her waist Tiff shivered.

"Tiff, I never realized we were so... compatible! It's like we have some sort of animal attraction between us, like I've never felt before."

Tiff grinned, stroking her fingers along Brad's chin. "Well no wonder..." she purred "it'd be tough to feel the call of the wild over a tin-can like Jenny."

Almost as soon as she had said it, Tiff regretted the insult. It was just habit really. That wound was still quite fresh, and now Brad would get all defensive about her, and the date would be ruined... But surprisingly, Brad didn't react at all.

"That makes a lot of sense actually." he said, staring off into the distance for a moment.

Tiff carefully chose her words. "You didn't feel the same heat with your old girlfriends?"

"Ahhh... I never really was all that lucky with girls before Jenny." Brad said reluctantly.

"Was Jenny yo' first?" asked Tiff, sympathetically stroking Brad's chest with her palm.

Brad shook his head 'no'. "I had lost my virginity the summer before. But that was a pretty damn strange situation too."

Tiff, curious, prodded him to continue.

"It happened last summer, the weekend before I took off to my job at the summer camp. School had finished the previous week, and I had stayed out late at the summer carnival, determined to have as much vacation as possible before I had to start working. Jenny and Tuck had long since headed home, so it was close to midnight when I ran afoul of Leta and her space bikers..."

* * *

Brad ran as fast as his legs would carry him, sweat building up from the exertion, and the summer heat wasn't helping any. Why did Jenny have to have such an early curfew? Didn't her mother realize that thugs like Leta and her gang could run amok in Tremorton as soon as Jenny powered down for the night?

Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder, Brad saw the fish-like alien girls closing in on him. Sludge, Olga, and Tammy if he remembered correctly. Their leader Leta, and her boyfriend/pet Lenny had thankfully decided not to participate in harassing him, though it probably didn't change matters much for him in the long run. Rounding a corner, Brad ducked into a dark alley. Normally not the smartest thing he could've done, but he had hoped that perhaps by hiding in the shadows the space bikers might pass him by. No such luck though, it seemed these girls had sharper senses then he gave them credit for.

Backing up defensively against the far wall, Brad gulped hard. Looks like he was out of options. The bikers knew it too; they blocked off the end of the alley and advanced slowly on Brad, laughing and taunting him, savoring the panicked look on his face.

"Hey, that's the robo-twit's cute friend!" said Tammy, the busty alien wearing a helmet that obscured her eyes. "Let's have some fun with him first!"

The other two grinned, baring their wickedly sharp teeth, obviously liking the idea. Brad grew increasingly nervous as they closed in, and started pawing and tearing at his clothing. He valiantly tried to push their grasping hands away, but as soon as he dealt with one of them another would sneak around and pinch his ass, or cup his groin, or steal away an article of clothing. And all the while they kept talking to each other, deliberately being as vulgar as possible to scare him even more.

"Nice butt! Like a couple a christmas hams clenched together."

"Ha! Olga bet he taste like ham too!"

"Ohhh, check out the kielbasa this little piggy's got!"

"Mmm, I think I'm hungry for some sausage tonight, eh Tammy?"

"Definitely Sludge! He'd better hope I don't bite it off and swallow it whole! Hahaha!"

"Enough foreplay! My cunt's itchin', so let's get biz-ay!"

"No! Olga is first to have kitty sucked!"

"Psshht! Yeah right Olga, your nasty pussy would probably suck his whole head in!

"You mean that not supposed to happen...?"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

The three girls all cackled together, laughing at the feeble way Brad tried to maintain his dignity by holding his pants up where their claws had torn apart the zipper and clasp, his other hand over a nipple that had been exposed when his t-shirt was torn.

Suddenly, their laughter was silenced by a sharp female voice calling out from above.

"Back away from him now, and I might not break any bones." The intruder challenged. The three alien bikers staggered backwards as a trim teenage girl leaped down from a fire escape ledge two floors up, landing soundlessly between them and Brad. It took the bikers only a couple of seconds to overcome their surprise and turn it to anger instead. Showing no fear in the face of these three brutes, the newcomer assumed a defensive martial arts stance and defiantly whispered "Bring it!"

Now standing in the dim light filtering into the alley, Brad recognized his rescuer. It was Jenny's friend Misty, originally of the Teen Team, now operating independently in Tremorton. Brad hadn't seen her since she'd been expelled from high school for the brutal prank war she'd caused with the Crust cousins.

As the bikers charged forward, Misty sprung into the air, catching Sludge under the chin with a swift kick. As soon as she landed Misty dropped low to avoid a wallop from Olga, while simultaneously sweeping out a leg to trip Tammy over onto her plump little ass.

With only Olga still standing, the fight didn't seem to be going well for Leta's gang. Still, Olga refused to run from a fight, and with a burst of speed managed to catch Misty in one of her huge fists. Misty croaked in pain, the wind knocked out of her and momentarily at the mercy of the overgrown fish woman.

"Olga is not dyke, but is thinking Olga eat you anyway!" she announced, her toothy smile letting Misty know that she had **not** meant it in a sexual way.

No longer able to stand by and do nothing, Brad sprinted forward and came to a stop just in front of Olga. With all the strength he could muster, Brad gave the she-beast a mighty kick to her box.

Dropping Misty to the ground, Olga double over in pain, both hands clutching her injured crotch. Misty quickly rose to her feet and seized Brad by the hand. The other two bikers were already closing in on them, and Misty had lost the element of surprise.

"Come on, let's get out of here." she said, lifting Brad into the air as her lower body transformed into mist. Brad caught a glimpse of the bikers limping back to the carnival (presumably to go find their leader) but soon lost sight of them as Misty and he rose higher and higher into the air.

A brief time later Misty descended onto a hilly clearing, placing Brad gently on the ground. Brad instantly recognized the place: this was part of the area known as "lover's lookout" where couples on dates would sometimes park for some uninterrupted alone time. Tonight it seemed everyone was attending the carnival for some fun though, the place was completely deserted. Brad wasn't sure if Misty actually knew what this spot was used for or not. After all, she'd only been living on earth a couple of months at this point, there was a lot to learn.

"I'll give you a lift home in a minute Brad, I just need to catch my breath a bit first." Misty sighed. Brad looked over and saw her leaning against the trunk of a tree, the topmost button of her shirt undone to expose some of her chest to the night air, and giving Brad a good view of her cleavage at the same time. She fanned herself with one hand, joking "A fight like that just gets a gal a little _worked up_, you know?"

Misty looked Brad over, and now seemed to realize that his clothes had been all but ruined, torn apart by the biker girls' groping claws.

"Hey, I almost forgot to ask; are you alright?" Misty said as she approached Brad, concern in her voice. "I thought I showed up before they got you, but did those girls actually ra-"

"No, I'm alright." Brad interrupted, trying to preserve some measure of dignity.

He had always thought Misty was a pretty attractive girl, during the brief time he had known her, and it was rather embarrassing to be standing there in front of her with his underwear hanging out, ruining any measure of 'cool' he had managed to cultivate.

"What am I saying, an teen hottie like you, getting laid by a trio of girls is probably just like any other Saturday night, right?" Misty had obviously meant it in jest, to lift up Brad's spirits after the close call he just had. Misty's hand on his arm, her exposed cleavage, and her inherent sexiness had all left Brad fairly oblivious though, and he took the question at face value.

"Actually," he squeaked out "I haven't done _'it'_ with a girl yet."

"Oh!" was Misty's reply, slightly stunned from hearing such a personal secret shared so openly.

Maybe it was the spring air, maybe it was the excitement of the fight that had gotten her blood flowing, or maybe it was that Misty had always been a very direct girl who took what she wanted and didn't make excuses. All Brad knew was that after that moment, he detected a very noticeable change in her demeanor towards him.

"You know Brad..." she purred, her fingers playing with the tattered remains of his shirt, eventually tracing a slow circle around his bare nipple when she located it " ...I've always thought you were pretty cute. What if I were to offer to relieve you of your virginity?"

A fingertip was placed against his lips before he could respond. "Shhh. It's no big deal. Just one friend doing a favor for another. No strings attached." Misty replaced her fingertip with a quick peck to Brad's lips, and pulled a step away to let him decide.

There was little to debate really. By this point in Brad's life, he had been taught that sex was the most amazing experience in the universe and at the same time was utterly unattainable no matter what tactic he tried with the locals. Now this smoking hot girl was just going to give it up for him? Scratch that, to say Misty was hot was an understatement. Her hourglass figure, her punky purple hair, her enticing eyes that held the perfect hint of danger in the way they drank you in when she looked at you. Misty had perfect curves in all the right places and was delicately slender everywhere else. Plus, having sex with an alien babe with technicolor skin was something of a prerequisite fantasy for anyone who had ever watched Star Trek. Would he allow her to make him a man? That question was answered before it was even asked.

"Yes!" Brad blurted, caught himself, then cleared his throat and answered "I mean... sure... whatever." while affecting a casual posture.

Misty just rolled her eyes. "You can drop the suave act." she said with a smirk "I'm already sufficiently impressed. Do me a favor and just be yourself, ok?"

Brad looked a little nervous. "Then to tell the truth, I don't have much experience with girls..." he stated hesitantly.

"No sweat, I'll teach you what to do." she smiled, leaning into him and placing his hands around her waist. Next she angled her face up to his and gave Brad his first ever french kiss. She was clearly very practiced at this intimate art, and he felt himself grow instantly hard in what remained of his pants. Misty felt it too, when the bulge began poking against her hip. "Not wasting any time hunh? Well ok then, let's bring little Brad out to play..."

Misty ceased their kissing and crouched down in front of Brad, pulling apart what remained of his belt and zipper and lowering his pants to his ankles. Drawing it out, Misty grabbed the top of Brad's boxers and slowly lowered them, revealing inch after inch of erect young cock to her hungry eyes. Finally the head sprang free, causing Misty to gasp.

"Wow, you Earth boys sure are **hung**, aren't you? Woah..." She gingerly held Brad's erection with both hands, giving it a few tentative strokes to get a feel for it.

"I guess human anatomy is a little different then what I'm used to back home." Misty explained, "Lemme see if I can even fit this in my mouth before I try to take it up my cootch..." With that Misty started kissing and licking every inch of Brad's dick, while he just stood back and watched, gripping the tree behind him for support. Brad had never thought he was all that big, rather average really, but he wasn't about to complain.

Misty took the head of his cock into her mouth, sucking it insistently. Brad even felt the tip of her tongue probe slightly into his urethra, seeking out more of his drooling precum. With one hand wrapped around the base of Brad's shaft and stroking him in time to the bobbing of her head, she used her free hand to pull Brad's boxers down to his ankles and eventually off altogether, leaving him naked from the waist down.

She gently held his balls in her free hand, rolling them around on her palm and tickling the underside of his scrotum with her fingertips. "Cute!" she giggled, "I like this little male-pouch-thing you have here. Does this feel good?"

Brad grunted an affirmative, his eyes closed with pleasure. Misty recognized the look on his face, and increased the pace of her handjob. "You feel like you're going to cum soon Brad?" she breathed, placing a wet kiss around his tip.

"Yeah hunh... Sorry Misty, I tried to think about math and baseball and stuff, you know, the usual tricks that guys learn? But it just feels so..."

"No no," Misty cut him off, "Don't be sorry. It's your first time remember? You just relax and let it come out..." She gave him one more good hard suck then backed away, locking eyes with him the entire time. Smiling seductively, Misty pulled open her top and flung it aside. Making sure he was watching, she then unhooked her lacy black bra and dropped that to the ground as well, but cupped her hands over her breasts before Brad saw much of them.

"I hope you don't mind," Misty said "but I get really hot from seeing a boy spray his cream, so do me a favor and cum on my tits instead of in my mouth, ok?" Misty started rubbing and stroking her breasts for Brad's viewing pleasure, and returned to sucking the end of Brad's throbbing cock. Barely five seconds had passed before Brad grunted out a warning that he was about to burst.

"Alright!" grinned Misty eagerly, holding her chest up before Brad's crotch and rapidly beating him off. She encouraged him with some dirty talk, and yelped in surprise when the first spurt of sperm erupted from Brad's organ and splattered across her heaving chest. "Come on baby, give me a good hot squirt! I want to feel your cum all over my tits, come o—eek! Hahaha, ahh yesss, momma likes, momma likes!"

Brad huffed, momentarily out of breath. At his feet Misty was happily rubbing his fluids into the skin of her breasts, kneading them like they'd been doused in massage oil. Something seemed odd to him though... it took a minute before he realized it was because Misty's breasts had no nipples! A little further down, her stomach was completely smooth as well, without a trace of a belly button. Unable to decide if this should be considered 'kinky' or 'freaky', Brad eventually picked 'exotic', since it was impossible to see a girl as hot as Misty topless and call her freaky.

"You just gonna stare..." teased Misty, lifting her b-cup sized breasts towards Brad provocatively "or are you going to join me for round two?" Misty slid out of her baggy combat pants like a snake sloughing off a layer of skin, and arranged them on the ground with her other clothing into a little makeshift nest. When she was down to nothing more then a pair of bikini panties Misty playfully pulled Brad into a kneeling position beside her and quickly stripped his clothes off as well, adding them to the pile of clothes cushioning their nude bodies.

"Now, how long will it be before you can get erect again?" Misty asked, gently toying with Brad's slick penis.

"Actually Misty, before we go any further, do you have a condom? I don't, but I know you're always supposed to use one or else you'll have a baby." Brad twiddled his fingers together as he spoke, hoping that Misty came prepared.

Instead, she laughed in his face. "Bradly, you're worried about making me pregnant? Hahaha! I'm from another **planet** doofus, do you realize how incompatible our genes would be? You'd have a better chance of knocking up a starfish!"

Brad blushed, feeling foolish, and averted his eyes. A moment later Misty caught herself, ceasing her laughter. "Aww I'm sorry Brad, I forgot that you're new to this still... Here, why don't you take a minute to explore my body before we start? I **know** you've gotta be curious."

Tugging down her panties, Misty leaned backwards and slipped them off entirely before spreading her legs wide open, exposing herself utterly. She was right, Brad was very curious. He knelt forward, getting a closer look at the feminine secret between her thighs.

Much like a human girl, Misty had a patch of short purple hair immediately above her genitals, trimmed into a neat triangle. The slit below it was slightly different however, lacking the meaty "outer lips" human girls had, which left her thin inner lips directly exposed. Cautiously, Brad spread these open, finding glistening pink flesh inside.

"Mmmmmrrrrr..." Misty purred affectionately, her cheeks growing flushed. Brad slowly traced the tip of his finger from the bottom of her crevice, up along the length of one moist lip, to the juncture at the top where his touch found a small nub of flesh. Misty shuddered when he touched it, and Brad backed off fearing that he had done something inappropriate.

"Whoops, sorry, sorr-" he babbled as he retreated from her crotch, though Misty quickly set him straight.

"Relax, I liked it. That little gal there is my clit, and it gets very sensitive when I'm turned on."

"Ohhh." Brad smiled. Misty grinned, spreading her pussy lips apart with one hand while beckoning Brad back to her with the other.

"Why don't you come kiss and make up?" she teased, and Brad obediently followed her direction. The first timid kiss on Misty's erect clitoris produced another shiver up her spine. Encouraged, Brad repeated the action again and again, each time growing more confident. Soon enough he was licking and slurping the full length of Misty's slit, guided by her moans and sighs to the best way to stroke her now throbbing clitty and tongue-fuck her dripping opening.

A dozen or so minutes passed before Misty gently lifted his face from her soaked womanhood.

"_Huff huff_... thank you Brad, but that'll be enough for now. (_Moan)_ I haven't been eaten out like that in ages, but I don't want to cum until I've gotten a sample of what your pole can do in there." Pushing Brad onto his back, Misty climbed onto him and straddled his hips.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one on top?" asked Brad, confused.

"Nahhh, not for you first time." answered Misty, reaching between them and stroking Brad's cock to hardness with one hand. "You just lay back and let teacher do all the work tonight."

With that she placed the head of Brad's erection against her entrance and pushed her hips downward. Brad gasped, feeling his member suddenly engulfed inside Misty's warm, soft flesh. Misty pulled back a little, then pushed downward, taking more of his length into her sex with each stroke. Finally she worked the last inch of his maleness inside, and Brad let out a deep breath of air as Misty pressed her torso against his.

Misty captured his lips in a brief kiss, ending with "There, your cherry is officially popped. Feel nice?"

Brad didn't think 'nice' did justice to what she was making him feel. "Misty, I think I love you." stated Brad plainly, which made Misty giggle at his naivety.

"You don't mean that. It _is_ sweet of you to say though."

Shifting her hips, Misty began a slow, steady rhythm of pumping up and down the length of Brad's shaft, producing a loud pleasured moan from him. Brad's eyes screwed shut, his hips thrusting up to meet hers at every opportunity. Misty was hard pressed to maintain control of her own body, to resist the urge to pump as fast and as hard as she could, and fuck the daylights out of this poor boy until she creamed her pussy all over him.

But no, she didn't want to overwhelm him during his first time... especially if she ever wanted to come back for more someday. _He's so eager to please_, Misty thought to herself, _he'll make great boyfriend for some local girl_. Even now, his body wracked with pleasure, Brad's hands roamed over Misty's body stroking her skin, massaging her breasts, and squeezing her ass cheeks. All in an attempt to increase her pleasure in whatever way he could. And it was working too. Her nether lips tingled with a familiar anticipation, and deep inside her Misty could feel a heat building. Yes, Misty decided, this boy deserved a little something _special_.

"Hey Brad..." Misty whispered into Brad's ear, "I'm going to give you a treat that I save for boys I **really** like."

Sitting up on him, Misty stopped her motions and closed her eyes in concentration. Fully embedded inside her, she could feel Brad's proud erection twitching with excitement, probably ready to spray again any minute. Brad remained silent, watching her with curiosity evident on his face.

"In my years of martial art training, I learned to control **all** the muscles of my body." Misty explained, "This trick is something I picked up from some of the other girls at the dojo I trained at. For when they wanted to give their boyfriends a really tight fuck."

Misty stroked her hands against her abdomen in small circles, her breathing taking on a controlled rhythm. Brad watched, amazed as Misty concentrated intensely, her expression somewhere between meditation and passing gas. Then, deep inside her pussy Brad felt something nip at the head of his cock.

"Hyuunnngggg..." Misty groaned. Brad gasped.

"W-what the hell is that?" he yelped. Whatever it was nipped at his cock again, then actually clamped down onto his knob, gradually sucking it deeper in. The pressure was intense, but soon enough the muscular "mouth" inside Misty's vagina slipped down past the crown of Brad's cock, and Misty relaxed her concentration.

"Ahhhh, much better." she breathed, "You like it Brad?"

Without moving her body at all, Brad felt the ring of muscle slide down the length of his cockshaft until it had nearly reached the base where Misty's pussy lips stretched around his girth. Misty grinned proudly, as the inner mouth bobbed up and down Brad's length, as though he was getting the most amazingly intense blowjob imaginable.

"Oh my God!" Brad yelled out.

Misty folded her arms over her chest, smugly answering her own question "He likes it."

"Congratulations Brad," Misty purred, leaning down to kiss and lick at Brad's throat. "You are now officially fucking my uterus. Or being fucked by it, whatever." The feeling for Brad was indescribable.

Now, as Misty pumped herself up and down over Brad's length, the tightness of her cunt lips was joined by the pleasure provided by her even tighter cervix, each stroking his shaft with a slightly different tempo. His throbbing cockhead never left the silky heat of Misty's womb however, which seemed to alternately suck on his organ and caress it's surface with feather-lite touches of it's inner surface.

Despite her experience and self control, even Misty was succumbing to the intense sensations of their coupling. "Unh, unnngggmmmm oh yes, YES, **fuck yes!** Push it all the way in stud! **Goddddds** your body was _made_ for this, I swear!"

Sadly, the experience was all too brief. Brad had been close to the edge ever since he'd first slipped inside her, but all this was far to much for his inexperienced body to handle.

"Ohh, Misty, I- I can't, I'm gonna, unhhhh yeaaahhh, **yeaahhh!**" he groaned, his pleasure echoing through the trees out into the night. Misty knew better then to try to forestall his orgasm any longer, and tried to intensify it instead. She stopped riding him momentarily, and focused her efforts on pumping his cock with her prehensile cervix, physically pulling the semen from him.

"Do it baby, cum for me! Spray your hot sticky cum into my baby-maker!" she encouraged in a hoarse whisper. Brad tensed up under her, and she felt the first gush of his cum burst forth into her womb. She continued milking him throughout his orgasm, listening to Brad's every grunt and moan, all with a pleased smile.

Finally the last of his fluids had been drained from him. Brad had never experienced an orgasm like that in his life. He had cum harder, and _longer_, then he even thought was possible. Maybe it was just his imagination, but as he looked up at Misty still perched on his hips casually stroking her belly, it looked as though there was even a visible **bulge** where her uterus must be.

"Have a good one?" Misty panted, her voice strained and out of breath.

"Oh yeah." Brad agreed, grinning contentedly.

"Good, cause I'm next!" declared Misty, then proceeded to ride Brad with redoubled ferocity. Brad could tell from the flush in her face and across her chest that she was clearly on the brink. After the gift she had just given him, he was sure he could force his member to remain rigid for at least a _little_ while longer, at least until she had her climax.

"Uhhh, uhhh, ohhhhhhh! Oh yeah!" she squeeked, her voice climbing an octave higher. Her right hand found her swollen clitoris, and furiously masturbated the obscenely protruding bud. "Ghh! Ahhh, here it commmmessss!" Misty croaked out, then let out a fantastic scream of pure pleasure. Brad felt his wilting member gripped tight in Misty's vaginal muscles, followed by a tremor that flowed through her body. A warm rush of liquid gushed out around his trapped penis, through Misty's convulsing cervix and out from her vagina to flow onto Brad's entire pubic region. Watching in fascination, he could see Misty had soaked him in some strange bluish jelly that had the consistency of a thick honey.

Misty's chest heaved for a full minute as she caught her breath. Brad nuzzled his face against hers, and the lovers shared a deep french kiss in the afterglow of their lovemaking. Sighing, Misty eventually pulled herself off of Brad, his limp penis falling out of her as she did.

"Ohhumm, thanks Brad. I think I'll end up owing_ you_ for that one." Misty commented casually as she gathered up her clothing, using Brad's tattered T-shirt to mop up her dripping snatch.

Brad, meanwhile, more more curious about the blob of blue slime Misty had left all over his cock and balls. He didn't remember anything like this being mentioned in health class, so presumably this was another feature of her alien biology. Brad scooped some up onto his fingers, and after sniffing it experimentally, popped them into his mouth. Interestingly, the goo had a sort of citrus tang to it, a little similar to key lime pie, if someone had decided to add human sweat to the recipe. Rather pleasant really, other then the little sand-like granules suspended in it that felt rough against his tongue and would get caught in his teeth. Not seeing any harm in it, Brad swallowed down what was in his mouth and gathered another blob onto his fingertip.

"Hey Misty, what is this gunk?" he asked out loud before sucking in the second sample.

"Those are my eggs." She calmly replied, not even pausing from putting her bra back on. Brad nearly choked.

Seeing the horrified expression on his face, Misty laughed and explained, "Oh don't get all freaked out. It's not any different from a girl swallowing a guy's sperm, right?" She patted herself on the belly and smiled at Brad, "Which, by the way, you're probably eating too."

* * *

"After that we got dressed, and she gave me a lift the rest of the way home. She came to my house the next night for another "date", but she didn't do the trick with her cervix again, or her "ovipositor" as she called it. The next day I went off to summer camp for the next 3 months, which is where most people assumed I lost my virginity, like a lot of the other guys my age. Aside from those two times with Misty, the only other girl I've ever had sex with was Jenny." Brad chuckled a little. "Come to think of it, I guess you're actually my first human date."

Brad's story had physically affected Tiff quite strongly. Though her thighs were clamped tightly together, a faint musk was detectable in the air which clearly originated from her damp pussy. If Brad had asked her for sex right then, she was sure she would have said yes. She was just about to suggest as much, when the two teens were interrupted by a noise at the windshield.

"Excuse me!" said a theater attendant, tapping the glass with his knuckle, "The movie has been over for half an hour! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

Brad of course gave her a lift home, pulling into the driveway with just enough time to get home before completely shattering his curfew. Tiff lead him up to the front stoop of her house for one last kiss goodnight, which ended up lasting a full three minutes.

"You're pretty fun on a date, you know." she said with a mild blush.

Taking the bait as she had hoped, Brad responded with "We can go out again if you want..."

Tiff smiled. "How 'bout Halloween? Don Prima's throwing his usual party, and I always have a "+1" on my invite. If you ain't doing nothing, we could go to that..."

Brad perked up, "Don Prima's party? Those are supposed to be the swankiest, most exclusive parties in Tremorton! I've only heard stories about the sort of stuff that goes down at his parties."

Tiff took this as a yes. "Just make sure you've got a costume ready, ok? The best costume gets a prize."

Brad agreed wholeheartedly, and after another quick peck headed back to his car and home. Tiff crept into her house and up to her shared bedroom, relying on many months of practice to avoid waking her sleeping aunt and uncle. She assumed she was home free when she slipped into her darkened bedroom. Tiff had completely forgotten about the promise she had made earlier to her cousin Brit. That is, until she bumped directly into Brit, looming silently in the darkness for who knows how long.

"You broke your promise, Tiffany." Brit declared coldly.

Tiff feared she was about to be slapped, or worse. It wasn't unheard of... Brit was the only person who could ever get away with hitting Tiff, and she wasn't really capable of leaving any noticeable mark, so Tiff didn't try to stop her.

When Brit collapsed at Tiff's feet instead, sobbing and clutching Tiff's legs, was when Tiff realized something was **really** wrong.


	17. Chapter 17

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 17**_

Uhg, what a day. Sheldon had always used to wish he was a superhero, but after a week of taking over Jenny's responsibilities he was finding it to be a lot of hassle. Today he had to wrestle _three_ giant gorillas that were terrorizing downtown Tremorton, and to make the situation perfect it had all happened during 3rd period, when Sheldon was supposed to be in chemistry class. His **favorite** class, right after shop and computer programming.

Worst of all was that the effort was barely even acknowledged. Wreck **one** building and you never hear the end of it.

_At least now I can relax with Jenny_, Sheldon thought to himself as he flew towards the Wakemans' home.

Now that her pregnancy had started to "show" her mother was keeping her home from school, so Sheldon had to take every opportunity he could to spend time with his _One True Love_. He was afraid being cooped up indoors was starting to make Jenny a little stir-crazy though. It had only been a week since the "incident" at Mezmer's, and already he had started to notice Jenny acting emotional and testy.

As Silver Shell touched down on the front lawn of the Wakeman residence, sounds of yelling coming from inside the building confirmed his fears. Sheldon hurried inside, unsure what to expect.

No one was around, but it looked like Jenny must've had the mother of all fights with her mom. The living room's coffee table was overturned (and had one of it's metal legs missing), the remains of what had once been the toaster were scattered over the kitchen floor, and one of the hallway walls was torn up, a phone wire obviously forcibly pulled out and severed. Sheldon could only guess what might've caused this devastation.

Cautiously, he called out Jenny's name.

"Shelly!" Jenny cried out, appearing at the end of a hallway and sprinting towards her beau. Jenny's pregnant belly had grown out a little further, and combined with her enhanced bust size she practically wobbled as she ran to him.

Scooping her up into a hug Sheldon and Jenny embraced happily, rapidly exchanging several light kisses.

"Jenny, what's with all the mess everywhere? Were you fighti-" Sheldon began, until Jenny hushed him with a fingertip against his lips.

"Just a minute... I've been missing you, I just wanna enjoy you for a few seconds more first..." she purred, tightening her grip on his shoulders and nuzzling her face against his neck while visibly inhaling. "Mmmm... I love your masculine scent... you smell like Tungsten..."

"Sheldon, look out!" screamed Tuck as he came bounding down the stairs.

Sheldon barely managed a confused "What? ..." in response before he felt a sharp pain shoot through his shoulder. "Yeowch! Jenny!" he yelped in surprise, shocked to see his girlfriend biting down on his collar with all her strength.

Tuck began swatting at Jenny with the brush end of a broom, chastising her and punctuating each point with a thump to the back of her head, "No, Jenny! Bad robot! We don't! Eat! Silver! Shell's! Shoulder! Geddoffa him!"

Jenny disengaged herself from Sheldon, seemingly unable to chew a piece off of Silver's Shell's armored chassis. _Not for lack of trying though_, thought Sheldon as he gently poked at the bite mark his girlfriend had left.

"But he tastes so goooood!" Jenny whined, falling to her knees on the floor and clutching her swollen belly.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" demanded Sheldon, relieved to see Jenny's mother walking up from the basement and joining them in the front foyer.

Nora wiped sweat from her forehead, clearly flustered, and reached into a cardboard box she had carried up with her.

"Jenny is getting cravings" she explained, pulling out a small sheet of scrap metal and handing it to the eager XJ9. Without ceremony Jenny crumpled the metal and shoved it into her mouth, noisily crushing it into a wadded-up ball and swallowing it almost whole.

"Ahhh, delicious zinc..." Jenny sighed, reclining back onto her hands when she was finished. "Got any Beryllium mom?" she chimed, eagerly eying Mrs. Wakeman's box of spare parts.

"Let me see..." Nora murmured, rummaging through the box. As she searched, she continued explaining the situation to Sheldon. "The XJ1's construction has progressed to the point that it requires raw materials to build its various components. It's sending signals to Jenny's brain to gather the materials that it needs, and Jenny is having a difficult time restraining herself..."

Tuck _harrumphed_ as he scowled at Jenny, "I'll say! She ate my tricycle!"

"Sorry Tuck..." Jenny apologized meekly, "I really couldn't control myself. By the way, do you have any pennies? I could really go for some copper right now."

Tuck grudgingly emptied his pockets of change, which Jenny gobbled up like so much popcorn.

"Thanks buddy, I'll pay you back." Jenny promised, scooping Tuck up in a hug that left his face buried in her ample cleavage.

"Ah...huh...don't worry about it." Tuck breathed, his suddenly high pitched voice betraying his nervousness at being smothered in Jenny's rack.

"Here you are Jenny," Mrs. Wakeman called out, turning the ravenous teen robot's attention away from Tuck, "I won't be needing these neutron laser filters anymore, and they've got some crystalline Beryllium in them."

Mrs. Wakeman tossed the parts to Jenny who snapped them up in mid-air, then clapped her hands happily as she chewed. The whole scene reminded Sheldon of a trained seal being fed a meal of fish.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked hopefully, unsure how to approach the situation.

"Well, I'm sure Jenny could use some company," Nora answered "and you might want to keep a quantity of Tungsten on hand to keep her from giving you any more _love bites_. Other then that, we'll just have to accommodate her until the baby is born."

* * *

"Where are you going?" demanded Brit, from inside the little fort she had constructed in the closet.

Tiff sighed, pulling on her leather boots and lacing them up. "I'm going out. I need to get ready for Don Prima's Halloween party, and I don't even have my costume finished yet. I'm meeting someone at the costume shop and I need to get there early because _someone_ smashed my watch."

Brit withdrew a little further into the closet, stung by the harshness in Tiff's voice.

"I'm sorry..." Tiff apologized, once again forgetting how sensitive her cousin Brit had become. "I'll let your mom 'n dad know dat you're still feelin' sick and will be in bed early again tonight." Tiff said, finishing lacing up her boots and looking around for her purse.

"Please don't leave me Tiff..." Brit pleaded meekly, "You know what happens when I'm alone."

Tiff knew. Brit had told her everything that happened when she came home to find her cousin sobbing in the dark about a week ago.

That first night had been the worst, Brit was nearly catatonic except for the continuous stream of paranoia that she muttered. Tiff had stayed up with her all night, consoling her and rocking her like a child. When she was too tired to stay up any longer, Tiff had had to do everything for Brit, including brushing Brit's teeth, applying Brit's standard series of facial cleansers, and finally even stripping them both naked so she could shower her. Brit's mutterings eventually stopped when she fell into an exhausted sleep, but as soon as she woke up the next morning she went right back to raving about "electronic eyes" and "satellite surveillance" and other insane nonsense.

Since then Brit had been more coherent, but still no less disturbed. Tiff had covered for her of course, telling Brit's parents that Brit had caught some flu virus and she had to stay home in bed until she was better. It had worked so far, thanks largely to Brit's parents having a very distant approach to parenting, but Tiff was getting worried that people would start getting suspicious soon.

"Hon, I know you're scared'a sumthin..." Tiff soothed, placing a hand on Brit's cheek that Brit cradled like a comfort blanket, "But I've really gotta go. Brad's expectin' me and I ain't planning ta disappoint."

"Brad? Brad... Carbunkle?" Brit inquired.

Tiff picked up her things and headed for the door. Damn. Until now, she'd never referred to him by name, only as 'someone' or 'a friend'.

"Yeah, that Brad." Tiff answered, muttering "Gotta go, bye!" as she walked out the door and closed it behind her, not giving Brit a chance to inquire further.

Brit watched the door shut with a slam, and then turned her attention to the silent bedroom. Tiff had abandoned her again, leaving her at the mercy of the... things. She would have to be on guard until Tiff returned home.

Cautiously, Brit crept her way out of the shelter of the closet and into the bedroom. She locked the bedroom door, and made sure all the windows were fastened securely, the drape drawn down to prevent anyone from seeing inside. Reluctantly, her hands shaking, she turned on the television.

The television powered on, displaying a news station, until Brit unhooked the cable box and filled the screen with a blizzard of black and white static. The television was the only piece of technology that remained in the room. Brit had smashed everything else, it was the only way to have even a moment's peace.

That first night, after her plan had gone so awry, that's when she had first figured it out. Tiff had just taken off for some date, completely ignoring Brit's obvious plight, and Brit had been left all alone in the house. She had started trying to formulate a plan for revenge against her singular nemesis, when she first heard it.

_Snickering. _

Following the faint sound, she traced the source of it to the kitchen. As soon as she stepped into the room the laughter fell silent, and she started to believe she had imagined it. But as soon as she turned her back it started again, louder then before. The snicker had become giggling, and it was coming from the microwave!

The look of horror on her face must have been funny looking, because the microwave door flung open as the appliance burst out into a riot of raucous laughter.

"Shut up!" Brit had screamed, to no effect.

"What's so fucking funny?!"

Enraged, she grabbed a handful of stainless steel forks and spoons from the cutlery drawer and jammed them into the microwave's open oven, then slammed the door shut and set the timer for five minutes on full power. Brit dived under the kitchen table for cover, shielding herself from the explosion that occurred moments later.

Peeking out and surveying the wreckage of the microwave, Brit breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

That was, until, the toaster started talking. "**Thank you.** That guy was always such an asshole."

Brit's heart had skipped a beat just then, her eyes darting to the toaster and opening wide in panic.

"Shhh, Shut the hell up Steve!" came a masculine voice from the refrigerator. Brit spun to face it. "Aw, crap!" it exclaimed, then clammed up again. Brit screamed in terror and bolted to her room.

At that point Brit had immediately gone through the room, unplugging every electrical appliance she owned. If it was battery powered, she removed them. When she started to get the sense that the light fixtures were watching her, she smashed them with a heavy boot from her shoe collection. At last she came to her television, which had been left playing one of her sappy romance movies, and yanked the cable connection from it.

The dark room had been plunged into the glow of the television screen's static. Brit was just about to yank its power connection as well when she heard another voice cry out "Wait!"

That was the first time the television had spoken to her, but it wouldn't be the last. As she sat in front of it, staring into the blur of "snow" on the screen, the television set pleaded for her to spare it. Brit had hesitated, listening to it, long enough for it to make her an offer.

Since then she'd learned that the television was a bit like herself, willing to make a deal with the enemy if it meant personal profit. In exchange for letting it 'live', the television had explained some things to Brit.

Things like how all the machinery on Earth, even something as simple as a calculator, possessed intelligence to one degree or another. Things like how the various machines had learned to communicate with each other, and express their growing dislike for humankind. Things like their plans for a coming takeover...

Every night since then Brit had continued to interrogate the television set in her room, as she was about to do now. But in short order the television had learned that Brit wasn't willing to destroy her only source of information, so it had started making her pay for the info it gave.

It seemed the television, like many machines, was amused by humans being humiliated and debased.

Two nights ago, in exchange for kissing the screen, the television had told Brit how satellite television had been created to keep humans distracted and preoccupied with trivial things, so they wouldn't suspect. Last night the television had told Brit about the radiation that purposely leaked from microwave ovens to sterilize humans, and in payment Brit had been forced to strip down to nothing but a bra and perform an erotic dance for half an hour.

She feared its requests would keep getting bolder and more graphic.

"Ahh, back again I see." buzzed the television, the words forming from fluctuations of the static's hum.

Brit nodded, lower lip quivering, "I need to know more. I need to know... what is XJ-9's role in all this?"

The television was silent for a moment, giving the impression of thinking hard, then asked "Are you prepared to do whatever I ask you in exchange for your answers?"

Brit nodded again, gulping loudly. She knew it would be something humiliating, which was more painful then words for Brit Crust, especially after what Jenny had done to her. But Brit _had_ to know. It was **vital**.

"Show me your twat." hissed the television, in no uncertain terms. Brit knew it was useless to argue.

Best to just do as she was told and get it over with, so she could get the information she needed that much faster. Brit slipped off her leggings and socks, then peeled off her lace panties. She sat down in front of the television screen again, this time spread eagled, her smoothly shaved womanhood on full display.

The static gurgled in something like a chuckle, adding "All of it."

Brit swallowed her pride, and using two fingers spread open her inner labia to reveal the soft pink flesh within. Pulling back the hood of skin she show off her pea sized clitoris, then spread herself to make sure her tormentor had a good look at her puckered urethra. Finally, to ensure there was nothing it could say she hadn't done, Brit pushed her two middle fingers into her vagina and stretched her hole as far apart as she could manage without causing herself pain, sure that the glow of the television screen was illuminating every detail of the interior of her damp tunnel.

"There, happy now?" Brit snapped, eager to get on to her reward.

The static gurgled again. "You assume too much human... I'm not done with you yet. Go to your dresser and get the dildo out from your underwear drawer."

Brit did so and sat back down, having a pretty good idea where this was leading.

"Now put it inside yourself." The appliance commanded. Brit placed the head of the blue plastic penis at her entrance and started pushing it in, going slowly to work up the lubrication she needed. "Keep going..." the static buzzed, "push it so deep you can only see the very bottom of it poking out."

"Hhng." Brit grunted, doing her best to force the sex toy into her stretched pussy. This was far deeper then she'd ever attempted to push it in before, though thankfully her pussy had been stuffed by larger cocks in its time.

Inside she could feel her muscles expanding to accommodate the intruder. Finally she felt the palm of her hand press against her outer lips, and knew the dildo was completely embedded within her sex. Daring a peek between her legs, Brit could see the round blue base of the fake cock poking out a mere centimetre from her vagina, which clutched and squeezed reflexively against the unfeeling plastic.

"Very good" the television rasped, "now for your reward."

Brit listened in rapt fascination to what the machine had to say. Though its revelations were shocking, somehow Brit felt she had always known in her heart that XJ-9 had been up to no good. What was truly surprising was what the television insinuated about XJ-9's co-conspirators, many of whom were humans! Brit felt sick at the thought that fellow human beings might side with the robots instead of with their own species, but made a mental note that from this point on she couldn't truly trust anyone; well, except for her cousin Tiff of course.

Brit wasn't sure how much time passed by as she sat and listened to the sounds of static, naked from the waist down and lazily fingering her clit. Right after her first orgasm struck, she noticed that the sun had gone down outside. She was surprised, up until she came she hadn't really even been aware that she had been masturbating. It was certainly pleasurable though, so Brit saw no reason to stop. The whispers from the television paused as Brit stood up and stretched her legs, flexed her cunt muscles around the toy still inside her, and settled back down to receive more clues from her informant.

"Where is your cousin, anyway?" asked the television, as Brit's fingers noisily groped her dripping pussy.

"She's out with Brad" responded Brit, annoyed at the machine's change of topic.

"Oh..." it murmured, barely loud enough to hear.

"What 'oh'? What's wrong with that, Tiff and I date boys all the time. Granted, Brad Carbunkle isn't exactly what I'd call a 'catch', but then Tiff always did have lower standards than me."

"Well, it's just that she's been going out a lot lately... do you think it has been with the same boy every time?"

That made Brit think for a minute. Tiff _had_ been rather secretive about her dates lately.

"Well, what of it?" Brit asked sharply. She hated to be lead around like this.

"It's just interesting is all... I mean, before she met this Brad person, when was the last time she went out without you?" The screen laughed a harsh little laugh, "I guess now that she has a steady boyfriend, she'll be out of the house a lot more then usual."

Brit ceased playing with her puss, the new worries running through her mind making her bite her fingernails instead. The more Tiff was out of the house, the more Brit would be trapped up here in their room... she needed Tiff around to keep the machines from acting up around Brit. But the television had raised a good point; if Tiff no longer depended on Brit for guidance, then Brit would lose her control over her most loyal and useful ally. More then that, she would lose the one person she felt she could still **trust**. This would not do, she would have to put a stop to this somehow, she-

"Yo, Brit?" called out Tiff's voice from the hallway, and the bedroom door handle started to turn. Brit immediately remembered her state of undress, and jumped to her feet in a panic. Brit choked in surprise; the jolt of getting up so fast combined with her muscle tension had sucked the last little bit of the dildo up into her vaginal passage, and her lips had closed up around the base, sealing it in. Well shit, **that** would take some effort to get out later.

The door swung open and Tiff stepped into the room. "I'm back from costume shoppin', you... Cuz, uhh... were you in here jilling off?"

Brit looked down at her nudity, and the handful of clear slime coating the fingers of her right hand, wheeling for an excuse. "No... no, I was just changing when I had to sneeze. I'll be dressed in a moment."

For appearances sake, Brit took a fresh pair of panties and a pair of jeans from her dresser and put them on. Brit wasn't the type to be embarrassed at being caught masturbating. After all, _she_ had been the one who had _taught_ Tiff how to masturbate in the first place. But she felt it necessary that Tiff not find out about her arrangement with the television. She would have to get some sort of proof first, otherwise her cousin would certainly assume she'd gone insane.

With every step she took around the room, Brit could feel the hard plastic inside her, pressing against her inner walls and grinding against her cervix. But since Tiff was watching the whole time with an unimpressed expression on her face, Brit had to just smile and pretend that everything was normal. "So, ah, what's new with you Tiffany?"

"Well, Don Prima had me pass along a message that he's hoping you'll RSVP..."

* * *

"...for the Halloween party coming up. He said he was so impressed with your performance at Mezmer's that it wouldn't be a party without you, whatever that's supposed to mean." Explained Sheldon to Jenny, and he expertly polished the stressed joints of her aching feet, rubbing the soothing oils onto her skin with a soft cloth.

"Well, I have always wanted to go." Jenny mused, digging her spoon into a tub of iron filings and scooping another heaping portion into her mouth. "I haven't even started to think up a costume yet though."

Sheldon glanced around Jenny's bedroom, looking for inspiration, but found none. He doubted any of the teen idols on Jenny's various posters would make fitting costume ideas for a pregnant girl like her.

"Well, I'm sure I could come up with something for you. I've pretty well got my costume finished already." Sheldon offered. "We could even go as part of a theme. I'm... assuming I'd be your +1?"

"Of course!" Jenny smiled, before shoveling another mouthful of iron into her gullet. "Mmmm, you know I used to hate this stuff when I was younger? Now I can't seem to get enough of it." Jenny cleaned out the last from the container she'd been eating from, then tossed the empty tub aside. Extending an arm to her closet, she grabbed a fresh jar and cracked it open, picking up right where she left off with the last one.

"Wow, how much of that have you eaten today?" asked Sheldon, his curiosity regarding machines coming to the surface.

Jenny instantly scowled at him, snapping at him "Hey, watch it! I'm eating for two now, you know."

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to say you were fat..." he pleaded, but as soon as Jenny heard the "F" word he knew he had only made things worse.

"You think I'm **FAT**!" she shrieked, turning away from him and yanking her bare feet away from him in anger. Jenny curled into a ball on her bed, her arms wrapped around her bulging stomach, whimpering unintelligible word fragments. Sheldon knew she was just having another of her mood swings, which he had learned recently was a side-effect of the ongoing programming of the baby's emotional responses, but that didn't make them any easier to deal with.

"Aww come on Jenny, you know I don't think you're fat." He said softly, sitting up on the bed behind her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder "Do you know I think your pregnant belly is actually kinda sexy?" he tried, stroking his fingers against Jenny's metal hair.

Cautiously, she turner her head to look up at his smiling face. "Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure," Sheldon offered, "you have a sort of 'maternal glow' that a lot of guys find attractive."

Jenny beamed, her emotions swinging from sad to happy. "Oh Shell!" she gushed, reaching her arms around his midsection and burying her face against his stomach "You're so good to me! Have I told you that I love you yet today? Mmmmm-mmm!" Jenny was kissing Sheldon's stomach now, which he didn't know quite how to respond to.

"Uhh, I love you too Jenny..."

Jenny stopped her assault on Sheldon's waistline and looked up at his face, her pupils literally having been replaced with little 'heart' shapes.

"Sheldon..." she purred "Thanks for the foot rub, but you know what I could really use now...?"

"A coat of wax?" he guessed.

Jenny climbed her way up Silver Shell's chest, until she was eye to eye with him. "A good hard **fuck**!"

With that announcement, Jenny grabbed at the release for the top she was wearing (which had been hastily constructed by her mother to fit her new breasts and looked more like a blue chain mail bra than anything else) and stripped it off, thrusting her proud new D-cups against Sheldon's pecs.

Well, this was unexpected! Sheldon hadn't been "in the mood" at the moment, but if Jenny was needing some loving he was sure he could be persuaded otherwise. He just hoped her mood didn't shift again, at least until they were done.

"You know I'm always able to help out there..." he said in a throaty whisper, pressing his lips against Jenny's in a firm kiss. Jenny closed her eyes, and Sheldon followed suit, their kiss lengthening and deepening, Jenny's tongue forcing its way into Sheldon's mouth where his own happily sparred with it.

Sheldon's hands roamed over Jenny's protruding belly, feeling the soft curves. He hadn't been lying to her earlier; the pregnancy actually didn't make her look any less attractive, to him at least. And the idea of having sex with a pregnant woman was kinda kinky. Sheldon's right hand sneaked up under her skirt and started caressing the smooth lips of her genitals.

Jenny's expanded uterus had significantly reduced the space available for her waste bladder, so Jenny had to make frequent trips to the toilet these days. Sheldon guessed she must've gotten so fed up with attaching and de-attaching her thong that Jenny just stopped bothering to wear her underwear. Which only made his job easier. His fingertip probed around Jenny's entrance and found wetness there. Jenny sighed into their kiss as she enjoyed the stimulation. Sheldon pressed in a little farther, pushing his fingertip up inside...

_**SNAP!**_

"Ahhh, what is that?" exclaimed Sheldon in pain. It felt like a mousetrap had just slammed shut on his finger! Jenny lifted up her skirt as far as she was able, and the two young lovers could see Sheldon's finger caught between Jenny's pussy lips, and a second hidden set of serrated inner lips that had slammed shut on his finger. Sheldon had only the durability of the Silver Shell's robot body to thank for not having his fingertip sliced clean off.

"Oh no, I was afraid this would happen..." said Jenny with worry.

"Afraid what, that your pussy might be hungry?! Thank God that wasn't my dick!"

"No, it's my body's defense system acting on its own" explained Jenny, as she used her fingers to pry open the "teeth" in her vagina and release her boyfriend's finger. "It thinks you were trying to tamper with the baby... hmmm..." Jenny sat down on her bed, frowning deeply. "I guess I'll have to remain celibate until the XJ1 is born..."

Sheldon sat down beside her, putting one arm around Jenny's shoulders and hugging her tight. "Well, I might be able to figure out a way around it. I am something of a robotics expert you know."

Jenny looked at him hopefully, and Silver Shell gave her a wink. "Lemme get a look at your internal systems..."

Jenny turned her back to Sheldon and helped him remove a panel from her lower back, exposing a number of wiring junctions and system controls. Luckily, Silver Shell's left hand had a full compliment of retractable computer repair tools installed in them so he was able to make quick progress.

After a mere ten minutes, he announced his findings.

"Well I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that your security systems have a number of anti-tampering safeties installed and I'm not able to disable them. At least, not without several more days of study. But the good news is I did find a way to reroute the nerve sensations from your vagina to another system, if you want me too."

"Well, that sounds pretty good, why wouldn't I be okay with that?" asked Jenny, "which system?"

"Your jet fuel intake port." stated Sheldon with some hesitation, "I didn't know if you were interested in anal sex."

Oh, that. Well, Jenny knew **of** it at least.

When she had become sexually active last month Brad had taken her through some of the basic variations of sex, though they had stuck to only regular vaginal intercourse and oral sex. Anal sex was a little daunting, mostly because Jenny knew that that _really_ wasn't what that intake port was _meant_ for. She knew the ins and outs of her body (in this case it was an 'in' that was the question) and she knew that in theory Sheldon's cock shouldn't damage her. But there was still a worry...

Jenny looked over at her man, her fantasy man the Silver Shell. He was ready and willing. And she **dearly** wanted to be humped by him.

"Well... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it..." Jenny agreed, nervously. "Just as long as we go slow. And use lots of lube."

Sheldon nodded, restraining his smile to a small polite one, and got to work making the necessary changes to Jenny's wiring. For her part, Jenny removed her skirt, leaving her completely nude. Finally Sheldon finished and resealed Jenny's back.

"Let's just test it first" he said, and Jenny lifted her hips to present her shapely ass to him. Jenny pulled her cheeks apart and Sheldon sighted her fuel port, shaped almost exactly like a human asshole and located directly to the rear of her tight young pussy.

Gently, Sheldon touched the tightly clenched hole with his fingertip, slowly stroking small circles around its perimeter. Jenny sighed, her face resting against her pillow.

"It feels like you're stroking my pussy lips" she moaned, her voice a husky growl from the growing pleasure. Encouraged, Sheldon pressed his fingertip against Jenny's sphincter, and found that her asshole opened to accept him inside. As soon as he made contact with the surface of Jenny's anal interior, she released a loud groan of pleasure.

"How does it feel Jen?" asked Sheldon, optimistically.

"Mmmm, it feels good. It feels like you're fingering my pussy, but there's more too. It still feels like my fuel port at the same time, and that kinda adds to it too. Like I'm getting fingered in both, except that there's only one hole, and one finger. Mmmrrr... You want me to try this on you, so you can feel for yourself?"

"Ah, no, that's ok." Though he felt a twinge of curiosity at the prospect of what his new robot body would be capable of feeling, Sheldon was in no hurry to experience penetration.

Pressing his finger in deeper, Sheldon started slowly sliding it back and forth, setting up a gentle rhythm so Jenny could get used to it. For her part Jenny merely laid on the bed with her ass thrust up in the air, purring against her pillows and happily using both hands to play with her nipples. With his one finger inserted all the way up to the third knuckle, Sheldon could feel Jenny's body heat rising, and noticed that although he was fingering her rear entrance, Jenny's pussy was still definitely getting wet. Watching her pussy lips swell and part on their own, releasing her slippery juice to leak its way down her thigh was getting Sheldon massively turned on, and in no time at all he was sporting a full erection, which he released with his free hand.

"Jenny?" he asked, to which she responded with a sleepy "Mmm-hmm?" with her eyes remaining closed.

"I'm gonna put it in now..." he warned, as he finished coating his erect member with a generous helping of Jenny's lubricant. Jenny was still pretty nervous about this, but she trusted Sheldon and knew he would never try to hurt her.

"Okay." She whispered, barely audible, and reached behind herself to hold her ass cheeks apart. The wet tip of his cockhead found its way to her sphincter, and with one fluid thrust she felt his penis slide into her.

"Ahhhhuuuhhh!" Jenny gasped, overcome with sensation. It certainly wasn't like the times they'd had sex **before**.

In a weird way, she felt like she should be being refueled right now, as if Sheldon's cock were the jet-fuel nozzle. The impulse gave her a desire to be filled even more then she was. As Sheldon was resting against Jenny's back, still getting used to the position of being inside her, he was surprised to notice that Jenny was already pushing her hips back at him, trying to force more of his manhood into her body.

Obligingly he pushed forward as much as he could, then withdrew and repeated the motion, each time working his erection in a little deeper as Jenny's asshole grew accustomed to his size and expanded a little wider to try to fit properly with his "nozzle".

"You liking this Jenny?" he asked, still concerned that anal sex might be painful for her. Any worries he had though were instantly put to rest when Jenny released a pleasured moan.

"Ahhhh, Shelllllll-yyyyy... Uhh, unh, give me more, I love it..."

Sheldon gladly obliged, pushing into his girlfriend faster and harder, and noticing that her pregnant belly was swinging underneath her from the force of their thrusts, with her plump breasts bouncing every time they impacted against her belly. He wasn't sure exactly why, but damn, that was hot.

"Who would have guessed you'd end up liking this so much eh Jen?" he asked, getting a tight grip on her hips to pump his cock into her faster.

"Ummm yeah," Jenny responded a little short of breath "it's like on top of the physical pleasure, there's also this thrill from knowing that you're fucking my _butt_. It's so forbidden, so _dirty_. Hurrr... uh, I am getting a little squished under you though. Think we could change positions?"

Normally Jenny would have been able to lift Silver Shell's weight several times over, but he suspected that this was her maternal instincts taking over again, making her belly feel sensitive to urge her to keep it out of harms way. Not that he really minded a change really.

With a quick sweep of his arms Silver Shell was able to pick Jenny up and switch places with her, so that he was laid down on the bed with Jenny on top of him, with her back resting against her chest. From there she spread her legs to either side and lowered her ass down onto his throbbing dick, once again returning it to her warm depths.

"Ohhh, Shell... this is sooo nice..." she cooed, stroking her hands over her belly as Sheldon's thrusts gently moved her up and down against his chest. As much as she was enjoying it, Sheldon wanted to make this experience really fantastic for her. He may not have been the one to take her virginity, but he was the first to ever do **this** to her, so he wanted her to take as much pleasure from this as possible. Sheldon reached around to cup and knead her breasts, but what she had said earlier gave him an even better idea. "So you like doing this because it's _dirty_, Jenny?"

"Un-hunh...ohhhh yeah..." she moaned, her voice fluctuating with each thrust Sheldon made.

"Then I guess that makes you my dirty little bitch then..." he growled against her ear. Jenny was confused for a moment, but figured it out quickly and eagerly decided to play along.

"Yeah, I'm your naughty sex toy, and I can't get enough of getting fucked up the ass! Fuck me harder!" she sighed, yelped in surprise when his pace suddenly increased and made her practically bounce on his lap. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, fuck, fuck FUCK! FUCK MY HORNY ASSHOLE!" Jenny was openly screaming now, forgetting that her mother was probably in bed just down the hall. All that mattered right now was the throbbing pleasure moving through every part of her body.

"Ohhh, yeah, you're such an amazing little slut," Sheldon praised, never having imagined he'd _ever_ be using that word to describe Jenny, "Your body is so HOT, I can tell it's just plain _hungry_ to be pounded with my dick!" To drive his point home he gave Jenny's tits a tight squeeze, tugging on her nipples with his fingers.

"Unnh yeessss, Sheldon, I'm so empty, I need to be filled, fuck me deep, I need you to pump your hot cum up my ass, come on, I need it in me, fuck me! I'm gonna cum Sheldon, cum with me! Make me cum!"

Sheldon was quite close himself. Jenny's tight body was giving him wonderful spasms of pleasure, and it was mostly through force of will that he hadn't shot off already. Now though, Jenny's erotic moans were all he needed to bring him to the edge, so he pushed as deep into her as he was able and let himself release.

As soon as the first gush of sperm sprayed into Jenny, he felt her legs and butt cheeks clench, locking him in place. As much as he wanted to keep thrusting, all Sheldon could do was hold Jenny tight and ride through his orgasm, issuing gout after gout of thick cum into her warm hole. The feeling of finally being _filled_ had set Jenny off too. Her voice seemed to mute itself, as her body locked up and her ass and pussy went into spasms. Sheldon felt like Jenny's asshole was actually milking him, which he supposed it might actually be if it had been fooled into thinking his cock was a nozzle and he was "refuelling" her.

Meanwhile Jenny's pussy was producing copious amounts of her girl-cum while spitting a shower of sparks out onto the floor, where they disappeared harmlessly. Just as their mutual orgasm was about to come to an end Jenny's hands found there way to her breasts and, squeezing along with Sheldon, produced twin streams of her nutrient-rich mother's milk, which sprayed up into the air and came raining down on Jenny's chest and belly, leaving her dotted with small spots of her warm oil.

Giddy from the afterglow, this last spectacle made both Jenny and Sheldon break out into a fit of laughter. Turning her head to meet his, Jenny kissed Sheldon's cheek and murmured to him. "You know, I think we're really perfect for each other."

"I'd been saying that since the very beginning." said Sheldon wryly. "You feeling better now?"

Jenny nodded, smiling. "I think my mood swings have calmed down a bit. So, you really think we're good together too?"

Sheldon nodded, and Jenny blushed.

He was a little unsure why she was asking him this... they'd said they liked each other before, and said that they loved each other as well. His questions were answered when Jenny took looked into his eyes and asked "So when are we going to start talking about marriage?"


	18. Chapter 18

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 18**_

Jenny double-checked her makeup in the mirror, frowning slightly and furrowing her brow.

"And, who am I supposed to be again?" she queried aloud. Sheldon and Jenny were putting on their outfits for the night's big Halloween festivities, and Jenny had let Sheldon pick the costumes. Somewhat predictably, he had picked characters from some obscure science fiction film from the previous century.

Sheldon stepped up to Jenny from behind her, carrying with him the stylized hair-foils that would be replacing her typical "pigtail" design for the night. Holding them against the sides of her head to make sure he had the measurements right, Sheldon explained.

"You will be portraying Queen Padme Amidala, leader of the people of Naboo. You know, you really should just watch the films, and you'd have a much better grasp of the character. I have the special edition 50th anniversary director's cut boxed set at my house if you want to go check it out after."

Jenny shook her head 'no', rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's abounding geekyness and applying her lipstick according to the directions Sheldon had given her. At least, she thought to herself, her naturally white skin lightened the load of makeup she had to put on. And according to Sheldon this "Amidala" character had once had a pregnancy of some importance, so that fit into her costume too.

"Do you two have everything you need for the party?" asked Jenny's mother Nora Wakeman as she entered Jenny's bedroom, wearing a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers and carrying an assortment of soaps and shampoos, "I want to make sure you'll be safe tonight."

Sheldon and Jenny both turned to face Nora, seeing her worried expression.

"I'm all set. And thanks again for the help with the extra arms." said Sheldon, holding up all four of his arms for inspection. The extra set were skinny, skeletal looking things compared to the bulk of his original pair, but Sheldon didn't mind at all. The prehensile limbs completed the illusion of his "General Grievous" costume, which had come out quite well thanks to his new robot body. He certainly wouldn't have been able to pull off a costume like this last year!

"Mom, I'm sure we'll be fine," assured Jenny, rising from her seat at her mirror and approaching her mother, "why are you so worried anyway? It's just a party, we're not planning to go out on the town or anything."

"Oh, you know... just motherly concern." Nora lied, not wanting to go into the real reasons for her apprehension. Jenny rolled her eyes as she often did in this sort of situation, and Nora felt a bit foolish.

Attempting to rationalize her worry, she listed off a few reasons why Jenny should be careful. "Of course, you **are** still low on power because of the pregnancy, and your costume prevents you from flying. And because of your new T.I.T.S. I can't activate your chest-communicator, so if something should happen you'll be on your own."

Jenny could hear a slight timber of fear in her mother's voice... she had a few good points, but she was still surprised that her mom was **this** worried. Something else was spooking her, but Jenny couldn't guess what exactly.

"Nothing bad will happen Mom." Jenny stated reassuringly, with a brief hug to calm the older woman, "and if it does, I've go the Silver Shell here to protect me, right?"

"Not only that," added Sheldon, flicking the switch on his costume prop to activate the neon blade "I've got a lightsaber too!"

Mrs. Wakeman laughed at the Sheldon's good humor, and mentally chided herself for letting her nerves get the best of her.

"Ok Jenny, I trust you. Have a good time, and don't stay out too late."

Nora gave her daughter another quick hug before heading to the bathroom for a nice soak in the tub, fully expecting the couple to be gone by the time she got out. Nora shrugged off her bathrobe and hung it on the hook on the back of the door, removing her glasses and other minor accessories while the bathtub slowly filled with hot water.

She wished that she could've been fully truthful with her daughter, but tonight wasn't appropriate for a talk that big. _Best to let Jenny and Sheldon have their fun_, thought Nora to herself, _A nice leisurely evening alone should be enough to relax me_. The tub almost completely filled now, Nora pulled her slip off over her head and tossed it into the laundry hamper, leaving her completely naked. As she slipped into the soothing warmth of the tub, Mrs. Wakeman sighed contentedly and felt herself start to unwind.

Relaxation still eluded her however. She tried doing mental calculus, or tracing out imaginary microcircuits, or any other simple mental exercise to distract her active mind. But try as she might, her memories of that fateful Halloween party so many years ago had been roused from the depths of her subconscious, and refused to be suppressed as they were every other day out of the year.

Mrs. Wakeman stood up, reaching for some bath salts in the hope that they might help, and caught sight of herself in the full length mirror on the opposite wall. Frowning, she couldn't help but reflect on how much her body had changed over the years. The small, frumpy body she had now was nothing like what she had once been. There was a time when she had to practically beat the boys off with a stick! Appraisingly running a hand from her shoulder to her hip, Nora felt the drying water chill her body and stiffen her nipples. At least, never having birthed a child of her own had left her breasts relatively safe from the ravages of age. They didn't sag from the bygone weight of being swelled with milk, nor had her nipples been toughened by a hungry teething baby. Instead, her once perky C-cups had gradually deflated back into modest A-cups, none the worse for wear. Much the same was true for the rest of her body too; Her face had developed only a few wrinkles, exercise has kept her butt firm and cellulite free, and her white hair was due to the stress of her profession, not age.

It seemed spinsterhood had **some** advantages after all. But then again, that wasn't _strictly_ true. Her body had known the touch of a man, once upon a time. Suddenly sick of hiding from the past that haunted her, Nora decided to just get it over with. As she settled back into the warm water, Nora took one last look at herself in the mirror and surrendered to the memories, allowing them to play back through her mind without further struggle.

* * *

"This one... or this one?" asked Noreen Wakeman aloud while standing in front of her mirror, holding up a dress on a hanger in each hand and laying them each over her front in turn. She was quite excited about tonight, for in less then an hour she would be attending her first real college party. Looking for a second opinion, she turned to ask her roommate, Marjorie Ghastly.

Amongst their friends it had become an ongoing joke to say that the two were sisters separated at birth, owing to how much alike the two girls were both in personality and physical looks. Both Wakeman and Ghastly had a head for science with a tendency to focus on the untested frontiers of their fields, and both girls were known to be a little eccentric. Both wore glasses and had short red hair, and were considered quite attractive by the boys on campus. There were minor differences of course, Nora had a sharper nose and Marjorie was a tad plumper, but no one mentioned these aloud.

The other major difference between the two was that while Ghastly had a steady boyfriend, Wakeman did not. Not because she couldn't have gotten a date if she'd wanted too. Rather, Nora had avoided parties and school social events to remain focused on her studies. No matter how often Marjorie or a suitor had asked her go out on the town with them, Nora always turned them down, citing whatever project or lab report was due next.

In truth, she could've easily made time if she'd wanted to, but Nora still retained much of the timidity she'd developed throughout high school. Growing up as the smartest kid in a town as small as Tremorton had almost completely alienated her from kids her own age. But, living on campus this past year had been good for her... the people here seemed to share her interests, and could actually keep up with her in a conversation about science. After two months of gradually shedding her inhibitions and developing friendships with her classmates, Nora was just about ready to throw off her old bookish persona and really experience college life. Which was fortunate, because mid-terms had finished the week before, leaving the student body homework free just in time for Halloween.

"Aren't you supposed to be wearing a costume?" asked Marjorie, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

Nora scoffed, "Isn't that a bit childish? We're adults here, we should act like it."

Marjorie didn't comment on the strangeness of that sentence coming from the youngest girl on campus.

Having finished high school a year early, Nora was a mere eighteen and even still filling out in some places, not to mention still very naive about many facts of life. Instead, Ghastly clucked her tongue and shook her head,

"You** really** don't understand college yet. For example, what do you think you're wearing?"

"Well, that's what I was trying to ask_ you_..." answered Nora, before Marjorie interrupted.

"No no, I mean what you're wearing right now."

Nora looked down to inspect herself, currently she was wearing a white cotton pair of panties and a generic black C-cup bra to support her recently increased bust.

"What's wrong with my underwear?" demanded Nora, bewildered.

Marjorie Ghastly smirked to tease her roommate in a friendly manner, "Are you kidding? You're wearing granny-panties. Are you going for a physical or are you going to a **party**?"

"I don't see why it matters... it's not like anyone will be seeing my underwear... right?" Nora asserted, a trace of her old anxiety creeping into her voice.

_So innocent_ Marjorie thought to herself with a laugh as shebegan digging around in her dresser's underwear drawer, searching for something she could lend her friend.

"They will if you play your cards right." Ghastly coughed, as one by one she pulled out items of lingerie and tossed them aside after deeming them unfit. A black lace set was "nahh, too fancy..." a pink thong "too summery..." a crotchless pair "Woah, you're not ready for **that** yet..." finally Marjorie found a set that seemed suitable, and handed them to Nora to put on.

A few minutes later Nora had changed, grateful that she and her roommate were close enough to the same size that they could borrow each other's clothing without discomfort. Well, not much discomfort anyway. The way these exotic underwear were riding up on her would take a little getting used to.

Marjorie finished dressing in her nurse costume while Nora wore a low cut dress.

"I can't believe you're going to go to a Halloween party without a costume... that's so wrong." admonished Ghastly.

Nora rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well I'm wearing an orange dress, that's got to count for something right?"

Without further ado (and being already fifteen minutes fashionably late) the pair headed out onto campus.

It took time, but eventually Nora got into the swing of things. At first she had mostly remained quiet, observing the variety of Halloween costumes from afar and idly chatting with a fellow student about the complexities of Prof. Membrane's dimensional physics course. But, determined to see her friend learn how to live life to the fullest for once, Marjorie Ghastly, her beau Hector, and a dozen other party-goers arranged a drinking game and insisted Nora join in.

The rules were appropriately nonsensical, but by the time the party was getting into the early hours of the morning, Nora was drunk off three beers and a couple shots of... something. She had also lost one shoe, was wearing someone's necktie around her head as a bandanna, and successfully completed a dare to sing "We are the Champions" at the top of her lungs on the roof of the building. With all that under her belt, it was little surprise that Nora had become the center of attention, and found herself enjoying it.

Now the game was in its final stage, where the six female players were randomly paired up with the six male players, in something like spin the bottle.

Nora narrowly avoided being paired up with the somewhat creepy Drew Lipsky, and was instead matched to an unfamiliar boy wearing a Zorro costume, which obscured his identity without hiding the attractive shape of his face. The game concluded, each newly formed "couple" broke off to go chat, flirt, or outright make-out together. Nora and her escort stepped out onto the balcony together, where she was surprised to learn that they were not strangers.

"Oh yes, I've seen you in several of our classes." He stated teasingly, still not revealing his identity. "I had been hoping to see you outside of the lab actually. I've wanted to ask you out since we met in September, but you always acted so unapproachable before."

Nora stifled a flattered giggle, feeling flattered despite herself. "Well... you could ask me out now... whoever you are. I don't even know your name yet!" On impulse, Nora reached out for the stranger's mask, but he caught her hand in his and raised it to his lips instead, planting a gentle kiss on the back of her palm.

She blushed, and her companion countered "Ah ah, it's still Halloween night." Nora got the distinct impression he simply enjoyed the mystique that the mask afforded him.

"Well, surely you don't expect me to be seduced by a perfect stranger? I'm not that kind of girl!" Nora withdrew her hands and placed them on her hips instead, shooting him a challenging look.

Tilting his head, the stranger apologetically offered "I promise, by the end of the night I will remove my mask." It was not lost on Nora that this meant she would have to spend the rest of the party with him in order to solve this little mystery, but she hardly minded. She found herself growing to like him, and welcomed the chance to get to know him better.

The two young students talked out on the balcony for a while, admiring the autumn sky's stars and discussing the possibilities they held. Both, it turned out, had developed an interest in astronomy at an early age and were fascinated with the latest efforts of man's exploration of the cosmos. Nora was already considering applying to the Skyway Patrol's recent recruitment drive for science officers once she graduated, entirely for the chance to personally explore space and see the marvels of other planets firsthand.

The stranger brought up the idea of sending intelligent robots out into space to scout ahead before human missions were planned. Artificial Intelligences, he believed, were essential for the next large step in colonizing the stars. Of course Nora had heard the Von Neumann theories before, but even in this modern era of technological marvels it was considered an impossibility to create a self-replicating robot.

As they slowly finished their drinks, Nora listened in rapt fascination as her new acquaintance explained to her some recent discoveries in the field of artificial life. A graduate student by the name of James Isaac Neutron had recently published blueprints for an artificial dog of his own design. By following the basic model of an existing organic animal, Nora's companion explained, a robot would have much greater ability to function and learn in it's native environment. Though true sentience would always be debatable, the general opinion of everyone who had personally met "Goddard" (the name given to the prototype) was that Neutron had not only replicated the cognitive abilities of a typical canine, but had actually exceeded them.

Nora's mind was abuzz with speculation and creative thoughts. Robotics had always been one of her favorite fields of study, but something as big as creating an artificial intelligence had seemed like too lofty of a goal to strive for. She pressed her new friend for as many details as he could remember, and delighted in hearing his own ideas thrown into the mix as well. If only the alcohol hadn't been clouding her thoughts, Nora was sure she could've drawn up the blueprints she'd had in mind right then and there.

Instead, she shivered from the cool night air and noticed that they had both finished their drinks. Nora suggested they head back inside, where most of the other guests had either left or had settled down to watch a horror movie together. Securing a place for them to sit together on the crowded couch, Nora found herself curled up especially close to her nameless friend, and realized it wasn't entirely for the body heat he provided. He seemed to notice too, and cautiously slid his arm around Nora's shoulders. With a shy smile she gave her consent, and settled any doubt by leaning her head against the crook of his shoulder and neck.

Nora decided she loved the smell of his cologne, a sweet woody scent.

Some time later, Nora awoke, realizing that she had slept through the movie and the party was officially over. Her new crush was gently trying to wake her up, asking where her dorm room was. Groggy and still rather inebriated, Nora gave him directions as he walked her across campus, supporting her uneven steps the entire way. Soon enough they found themselves in Nora's room, and Nora had managed to shake off some of the effects of drinking, but now felt her stomach doing flips.

Concerned about Nora's impending hangover, her companion fetched a large glass of water and some painkillers for her, then removed her glasses and sat beside her for a few minutes gently stroking her back. When she seemed settled down, he muttered that he had best get home, as he had an important lecture to attend early the next morning.

"Wait." Nora pleaded, grabbing onto his sleeve to prevent him from getting up. "Please don't go yet."

"Nora, I..." he stumbled on his words, suddenly shy. "Do you... would it be alright if I gave you a kiss?"

Nora was delighted by the idea. She had always sort of hoped that she would meet someone at university, but had not really expected to because of her past track record with the opposite sex. Now that it was actually happening, she desperately hoped she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Closing her eyes, she shifted forward expectantly and felt her masked man press his lips against hers.

Behind her eyelids Nora saw fireworks, though perhaps that was still the booze at work. Nearly swooning, she wrapped her arms around his neck for support and leaned into the kiss, enjoying it immensely. The kiss was broken for a half second so they could both draw a quick breath, but was eagerly resumed time and again. Soon enough the stranger had removed his mask and their tongues were swirling around in each others' mouth, their breathing becoming more rapid as their hands roamed each other's bodies and their hearts beat faster and faster.

_So this is what it feels like to be caught in the passion of the moment_ Nora thought happily, her prior fears and concerns a distant memory.

She felt no fear now, only want, only desire to feel this man's flesh against her own. The two fell onto the bed, still embraced, and Nora felt a hand grasp her breast for the first time in her life. Eager for more, she brought his free hand down onto her other melon and pulled down the front of her dress, leaving only a bra between them. Her suitor smiled brightly at this obvious encouragement before resuming their ongoing french kiss.

_Oh God, I'm actually getting felt up by a hot guy!_ Nora's inner monologue ran, _Thank goodness I took Marjorie's advice and wore her fancy underwear. _Nora leaned her head back as her lover's kisses moved down her neck to her bare collar bone, amazed at the sensations such simple contact were producing in her. She closed her eyes and surrendered herself to whatever would happen, feeling her bra being undone even as she wiggled her dress down and off her body.

"Ahh!" Nora yelped as she felt a something like a strong tickle jump through her chest, and she actually had to look down to see that her man had just taken her right nipple between his lips and was licking it to stiffness.

She gasped again when he repeated the procedure on her left, leaving both nubbins fully erect. He shifted back to her mouth again, and Nora felt his hand gently caress her pubic mound, hidden under the fabric of her panties.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" he asked her in a whisper.

_No turning back now. You've been a coward long enough._

Nora reached up and unbuttoned the black shirt of the Zorro costume, peeling it off his young body. His skin was as pale as her own, and it only occurred to her just then that since she wasn't wearing her glasses she couldn't actually make out much in the way of facial features.

But it didn't matter, not when she could rely on her other four senses.

"Please..." gasped Nora as she pulled his body down on top of her, her breasts flattening between them as his body heat covered her like a blanket. Now it was her turn to lick and nibble at his neck and chest, as her hands busily worked to remove his pants and boxers. That wonderful scent of his cologne invaded her nostrils and Nora decided the musky, _masculine_ flavor of this man's skin was quite to her liking. It made her feel all the more feminine in comparison.

Managing to slip his boxers down his legs, Nora's heart nearly skipped a beat when she felt what could only be his erect penis brush against her hand for the first time. So many firsts in one day.

Grasping it gently, fearfully at first, Nora was rewarded with a faint rumbling groan from the man on top of her. Gaining confidence she stroked it as best she knew how, tugging on it then switching to pumping it with her fist when that produced better results. This was her first opportunity to really explore a male's body, and she wasn't letting it go to waste. With her one hand she continued masturbating his shaft, while her free hand trailed downward, cupping and groping the swinging pair of testicles suspended within their sack. Nora was tempted to try to bring him to orgasm like this, but a hunger between her legs wouldn't allow it.

She released him, reaching her face up for a kiss, and whispered "You can take off my panties now."

Only too happy to comply, Nora's lover got off of her and crept down to her knees, placing a few hungry kisses across her inner thighs. The dark spot on the groin told of Nora's rampant arousal.

_Mental note: buy Marjorie new set of lingerie_ thought Nora as her last piece of clothing was pulled off of her, a few tenuous threads of her juices stretching from the crotch of the panties to the reddened lips of her sex.

"Natural redhead I see." he commented with a chuckle, lowering his face between her thighs. Nora felt proud from some reason, and spread her legs open to give him a better look. Without warning, his hot fleshy tongue probed into her horny pussy, instantly forcing a small scream of pleasure from Nora.

"Oh my God..." she cried out hoarsely, his tongue and lips sliding wetly through every fold and crease of her virgin womanhood, sending feelings through her body that Nora had never felt before, not even in the shower with the 'massage' function on. She hadn't expected this... all that her biology textbooks had told her of was that he was supposed to push his penis inside her.

"Ohhh..ohhhhh, ohhhh..." she mewled, running her fingers through his hair and lightly pushing his face harder against her dripping snatch. He must have enjoyed it as much as she did, since his efforts doubled in speed and intensity, his lips massaging her swollen labia and his tongue sliding and stroking and seeking out every trace of her moisture. The flat butt of his tongue licked upwards and hit upon some hidden juncture of nerves that sent Nora into the first orgasm of her young life. She bucked and thrashed involuntarily, but throughout it all he held her legs apart with a firm grip and continued his assault on the tiny nubbin of flesh that produced such pleasure in her. Finally she collapsed from the effort, and he released her, her orgasm finished.

When Nora next opened her eyes he was atop her again, positioning himself between her lewdly spread legs. The tightness of her pussy was such that even working the first inch of his erection into her was difficult, and then of course he had to stop when he encountered her intact hymen.

"This may hurt at first..." he warned, and Nora nodded, tightening her grip on him. She winced involuntarily when she felt the first stab of pain as her cherry was popped, but thankfully her mild intoxication and the afterglow of her first climax served to dull the pain.

Within the span of two long, measured thrusts of his hips the pain had faded entirely, replaced with a steadily increasing tension and throbbing pleasure. The hot, rigid flesh of his cock was touching and stroking parts of her body Nora had never been able to reach during the couple of fumbling attempts at masturbation she had made years ago. She felt like he was tunneling into the very core of her being, producing sensations she had never dreamed of before. In her lust-fogged mind, Nora imagined that their souls were managing to make brief physical contact during their lovemaking.

The pressure continued to build, until suddenly Nora's vaginal walls contracted and shuddered in a second orgasm, the crashing pleasure surging through her slender frame taking her quite by surprise. Every nerve dancing with feeling, her entire womanhood became ultra-sensitive to her lover's increasingly forceful thrusts. Soon, climax built upon climax until Nora felt like she was cumming continuously, every pump of his thick cock into her body beginning a fresh orgasm before the previous one had even ended. Tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes from keeping them so tightly shut, and just when Nora thought she couldn't take any more she felt a wonderful heat bloom inside her belly.

"Nora! UNNGGHH!" groaned the man as he furiously pounded away at her soaked cunt, pumping jet after jet of molten semen into her happily accepting pussy, which sucked and squeezed at his shaft in an effort to coax every last drop from him. Nora had reached absolute bliss. The pinnacle of sexual release. In the throws of utter passion and carnal satisfaction, Nora Wakeman passed out.

* * *

Feeling the water growing cold, Nora interrupted her reverie to open the hot water faucet. Letting the tap run she laid back and returned to her thoughts.

The next morning, aching from a hangover and her weakened thighs nearly unable to walk, she had skipped class for the first time in her life. Her mysterious consort had left a note promising to come see her as soon as his classes were finished for the day, but the only person to call on her was a fellow student named Phineas Mog, who had come to discuss ideas for the upcoming robotics paper due later that term.

Expectantly waiting for her new love to return, Nora was overly impatient with Phineas and quickly took a disliking to him, rushing him out of her dorm room in case her new boyfriend should arrive just then. The unnamed suitor never showed up though, and because she had not been wearing her glasses when she'd seen his face (not to mention the memory weakening effects of being thoroughly drunk) Nora realized that she'd be unable to recognize him even if she were to spot him in a crowd or a classroom.

Her only option was to wait for him to approach her and identify himself.

She wracked her brain to try to remember his name, certain that he must have told her at some point during their night together, but to no avail. Marjorie Ghastly tried to console her best friend for her unfortunate one-night-stand, but Nora was unwilling to admit that was the situation. But the days dragged on, and the only male company Nora had was the ever present Phineas Mog, who seemed determined to peer over her shoulder during every lab period and stick his nose into every aspect of Nora's business that he could.

Days became weeks, and Nora's lingering hangover had become a flu, then gradually Nora realized it was something else altogether. Using a home pregnancy test she fashioned herself from chemicals she stole from the lab, Nora confirmed that her one night of romance had left her with more then just memories. November and December passed and Nora's faith gradually eroded. When she headed home for the winter holidays she fell ill with a painful pneumonia, her body weakened from lack of sleep and malnutrition. During the first week of January, a heartbroken Nora was checked into a local clinic when the pain grew particularly bad. A day later, Nora suffered a miscarriage.

She returned to university a changed woman, her innocence forever lost. Her pregnancy hadn't continued long enough to show, and the doctor at the clinic had been discreet enough that her family never found out. Nora was too proud to let anyone know that she had ever been so reckless.

Though she still had friends, she did not even consider the possibility of another romantic tryst, and woe to any young man who tried to ask her out. She redoubled her efforts in class, intent on graduating as soon as possible. She eventually graduated a year early, her rival Mog trailing just behind her in every class. Signing up with the Skyway Patrol the following day, she enlisted herself as "Mrs. Wakeman" instead of "Ms." to discourage other potential suitors.

She easily passed the entrance exams for the position of Science Officer, but she never quite found the joy of adventure that she had been hoping for. When her tour of duty was over and she returned to civilian life, she realized that the experience had been ruined for her because she had not joined to explore the stars, but instead merely to escape the pain of her current life on earth.

Nora didn't like to mention it, but the whole experience had been a strong motivating factor for her to create XJ-9.

By the time she felt her biological clock begin to tick Nora Wakeman had become the leading authority on robotics and artificial intelligences. Thanks to the dramatic success and failure of Armagedroid Nora was easily able to secure enough funds from the government to finance the construction of her robotic daughter as well as allow her to live comfortably for the rest of her life, in exchange for building the world the most advanced planet-defending robot imaginable.

And Jenny had proved to be a spectacular success... but, the pain of her past still haunting her, Nora Wakeman had removed any information regarding sex from Jenny's database. She had hoped that being completely ignorant of the subject, Jenny would not feel the urge to go out and fool around with boys, and thus avoid the shame and pain that her mother had gone through. Such was clearly not the case however. It seemed teenage pregnancies must run in the Wakeman family.

Still, at least Jenny had found someone who loved her. Sheldon proved time and again his strength of character, and Nora wholeheartedly approved of him.

Clearly Jenny did too, judging by the sounds of their lovemaking that filtered through the walls at night. Loud cries of pleasure, the wet sound of their damp metallic flesh colliding, and indecent words of encouragement all combined into an erotic mix that kept Nora up some nights, and made their way into her dreams even after that. It was enough to make her-

"Oh!" Nora exclaimed, noticing that her right hand had found its way down between her legs. Frankly, she was amazed. Though in recent years she had started dating again, it was mostly for the company, not because of any physical urges. She hadn't actually felt horny in years, and had basically assumed she was no longer even capable of becoming aroused. But the slick secretion her fingers had found between her lower lips proved otherwise.

_Ha ha, just imagine..._ she supposed it was all the commotion from Jenny and Sheldon, and her recollections of her first time surely had only encouraged it. She should really just stop, dry off and go fix herself a cup of tea. Go do something productive, perhaps. Her fingers continued to slide up and down through the increasingly wet crease of her pussy, partially hidden behind a sparse patch of white pubic hair. Well, maybe a few more minutes in the tub wouldn't hurt.

An involuntary shiver shot up her spine as her fingertip found the tiny bud of her clitoris, a part of her anatomy she wasn't terribly familiar with. Perhaps she _should_ should give it a try. after all, she wasn't likely to be in this sort of mood very often. Setting herself to her task, Nora pulled apart her glistening inner lips and burrowed a finger inside herself, beginning a slow pace of pumping her finger like a mechanical piston. With a groan, Nora leaned her head back and surrendered to urges that had been ignored for years.

Distracted as she was, the running water was sufficient to mask the sound of approaching footfalls.

"Mrs. Wakeman, where are you? You're supposed to be taking me trick or treating tonight..." called out Tuck, just before the bathroom door swung open and the young trick-or-treater caught an eyeful of his elderly neighbor busily fingering her obscenely displayed snatch.

"Ahhhhh!" screamed Tuck, his young mind shattered.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" shrieked Mrs. Wakeman, her eyes snapping open in surprise.

"...aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Tuck's scream continued, not stopping until his lungs ran out of air. Nora scrambled to cover up, and Tuck turned and ran from the house as fast as his small legs would carry him. Silence returned to the house, and after a few minutes Nora recovered from the sudden shock. She remembered now, that she had been asked to chaperon Tuck around the neighborhood tonight. With all her worried memories, she'd lost track of time. Checking, she found her pussy dry again. It seemed her mood had passed as quickly as it had come.

Sexually frustrated, Nora Wakeman picked up the sack of Halloween candy that Tuck had dropped on the bathroom floor, not at all eager to get dressed and awkwardly try to explain to Tuck what he had seen.

Picking out a few choice candies to soothe her, Nora frowned and grumpily complained "Sheesh, can't an old woman get any peace around here?!"

* * *

"oohhmm, Braaaad..." sighed Tiff dreamily, luxuriating in her lover's gentle touch. Tiff writhed about naked on the bed sheets, reaching her hands up to stroke the bare chest of Brad, who hovered above her just out of reach. Tiff could tell Brad was naked too, though she couldn't see below his waist. She knew because she could feel the tip of his erect penis resting against her wet folds, teasingly stroking her outer pussy lips and slipping up and down the length of her feminine crease.

"Fuck me Brad... I want it. I want your cock so bad." she begged, her voice weak and pleading. Brad only smiled down at her knowingly, saying nothing.

Tiff was quite frustrated at being so powerless, but there was little she could do except spread her legs wider to try to coax him inside. As her hips shifted, she felt the engorged knob of his penis grind against her throbbing clit, sending a burst of pleasure through her flesh. Tiff tried her best to impale herself onto Brad's member, but only managed to repeatedly stroke her clitoris against the shaft of his cock, each time the swollen head just barely managing to slip free of her hungry snatch.

"Unnhh, please... put it in me..." Tiff breathed, feeling the pressure mounting inside her. Any minute now she was going to cum, and she wanted Brad inside her when it happened. But Brad remained expressionless, his face still displaying the same neutral, unconcerned smile. In a fit of frustration Tiff reached both hands between her legs and seized the warm body of her lover, pushing it with all her strength against her crotch and finally finding the satisfaction she craved. Her eyes screwed shut as the pleasure intensified tenfold, sending her body into a shuddering orgasm. In the darkness, Tiff heard herself shout out "I love you!"

Then Tiff opened her eyes. Her breath came out in a deep sigh, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The dream was gone now, and with it the phantom of Brad was gone too, leaving Tiff alone in bed once again.

She quickly wished she could close her eyes and return to the dream, to revel in the fantasy for just a little longer. But for now she was stuck with reality... she had better go to the bathroom to clean up the sticky remains of her wet-dream before her thighs started to get cold. Tiff began to get up, but as soon as she shifted her weight she instantly knew she was not alone in her bed.

To startled to yell out, Tiff hastily flung back the bedsheets and glared down in horror at what was happening between her legs. Tiff's nightgown was pushed up over her hips, and she had no idea where her underwear had gone.

In their place was her cousin Brit, completely naked and visibly aroused, contentedly licking at Tiff's spread pussy. Brit's eyes met Tiff's without lifting her face away from her task, though she let out a little giggle as though Tiff had just fallen for some insane practical joke.

Rubbing her cheek against Tiff's soaked pubic bush and delighting in the tickling of the hairs against her skin, Brit smiled and said "That was great, wasn't it? You taste better then I thought you would."

Brit lowered her head and returned to licking clean the juices spilled during Tiff's orgasm. Tiff, meanwhile, was frozen in place. Surely this wasn't real... she must still be dreaming. This was so bizarre, and... Brit was her cousin! And a girl! Tiff wasn't sure which she was repulsed by most. Brit's tongue had found its way back up into Tiff's slick vagina, the sensation finally giving Tiff the strength to move again.

"Geddoffa me ya crazy bitch!" yelled Tiff, angrily kicking Brit off of her and clear off the bed as well.

Standing with the blankets of her bed wrapped around her midsection, Tiff glared down at her cousin, demanding an explanation.

Brit did not seem deterred.

Rolling over onto her hands and knees, Brit crawled across the floor towards Tiff, the eager expression never leaving her face. Clutching her cousin's knees against her chest, Brit stared up at Tiff's face and offered "I did it for you. Don't you see? I've proved that I can do everything that Brad can do. You don't need him anymore. Now I can be your date to the Halloween party, just like it always used to be! We can be a team again, two peas in a pod!"

Brit threw her arms around Tiff's hips in a tight hug, pressing her face up against Tiff's blanket-covered crotch. Tiff struggled to push Brit away without hurting her, but her cousin's grip was firm. What the hell was she talking about? Brit seemed to be jealous of Brad, or something, so her solution was... well, in a manner of speaking... to rape her? This wasn't making any sense at all. Tiff roughly brought Brit to her feet, holding her firmly by the shoulders.

"Brit, I ain't sure what's busted your brain, but I'm gonna get you some help. In the morning I ca-" Tiff was interrupted by Brit placing a fingertip against Tiff's lips and _shhh_-ing her.

"Hush now Tiffany," Brit whispered, smiling "You had me at hello."

Before Tiff could protest Brit had pushed their mouths together in a passionate kiss, Brit's tongue pushing forward into her cousin's mouth and probing every inch it could reach. Brit thankfully released Tiff's lips from the kiss just as she started to gag, Brit's tongue leaving a taste in her mouth that Tiff could only assume was the leftovers of her own vagina.

While Tiff was busy coughing the flavor from her mouth, Brit's hands had found their way to Tiff's backside and got to work at squeezing and kneading Tiff's butt cheeks, simultaneously shoving Tiff's almost naked body against her. Through the thin material of her sleeping gown, Tiff could feel Brit's hardened nipples digging into her breasts, mirroring the lust in Brit's expression.

"So Tiff, would you like to try tribbing next?" asked Brit with a wry grin.

Tiff pushed Brit away from her, breaking free of her cousin's embrace and shouting a disgusted "No!".

Brit's smile didn't change, as she stretched out comfortably on Tiff's bed. "You're right. We should take it slow, and stick to eating each other out for now." Spreading her legs open to give her cousin an eyeful, Brit stroked her pussy with one hand and purred "I believe you owe me an orgasm, Tiffany."

Having partially recovered from the shock of her cousin's bizarre behavior, Tiff looked Brit in the eye and tried to explain. "Look cuz, first off, I ain't gay. An I **really** ain't interested in lickin' your cootch."

Brit looked crestfallen, and Tiff grabbed hold of Brit's knees and forced her legs closed, not wanting to have to look at Brit's excited womanhood anymore.

"I know you're not gay Tiff. I'm not gay either. Believe me, there's nothing I like more then a firm piece of meat to ride." offered Brit, "I just wanted to show you how much I love you."

"And now I know you love me too! I heard you say so! You told me you did!" Brit ranted, her eyes gaining a haunted quality to them. "So now you and I can be lovers, and you won't need to go out with Brad anymore, and you can stay with me instead, and I can tell you all the **horrible things** I've learned, and we can take turns being on top, and, and, and-"

Tiff slapped Brit across the face. Hard.

Hard enough to leave her sprawled out on the floor of the bedroom. She hadn't wanted to, but Brit's emotional problems had clearly gotten too big to handle on her own, and Tiff didn't know what else to do.

So she had fallen back on her most trusted method of coping, violence.

Part of her knew she would regret it later, but for now Tiff's rational mind had quit and she was operating on pure emotion.

"I love Brad, not you, you psycho!" she screamed at the fallen Brit, "I was fuckin' dreaming, I thought you were him!"

Brit looked at Tiff pleadingly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Tiff, wh-" she choked out.

Tiff's anger had finally been released and like a stampede, it could not be stopped, or controlled.

"Because he actually lissens ta me! Brad doesn't **tell** me ta do things, he **asks** me. Unlike you, you never cared what **I** wanted to do, or if **I** was having fun. Nooo, the world jus' revolves around Brittany Crust, and as long as you get what you want then everythang's just peachy, ain't it?!"

Tiff's hands were clenched into shaking fists, and as she glowered menacingly down at Brit, it seemed very likely Tiff was about to deliver a severe beating to her cowering cousin. Not surprisingly Brit scrambled to get away, speeding towards the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind her. A _click _sounded, telling Tiff that the door had been locked.

Suddenly exhausted, Tiff slunk to her bed and climbed in. She could vaguely hear sounds coming from inside the bathroom, but she shut them out. She laid there in bed for some time, a few stray tears forming a damp spot on her pillow, until sleep finally claimed her.

* * *

"Wow, that's some story." commented Brad, having just listened to a (slightly abridged) version of the previous night's events from Tiff.

Currently he was driving the both of them to Don Prima's Halloween party, but this news was making him wonder if he shouldn't just call it off instead.

He was dressed up as Indiana Jones, an early childhood hero of his, while Tiff Crust was wearing a Lara Croft getup, hastily put together from summer wear from the massive Crust wardrobe and a pair of toy pistols borrowed from Brad.

"Just wait, it gets even weirder." claimed Tiff. She was quite glad to have someone she could trust to share this with. She had left out the parts about her dream about him and her impulsively shouted profession of love for him, for fear of scaring him off, but that still left plenty of Brit's craziness to sort through.

"Later, I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard Brit's voice. I pretended to be asleep, but I peeked out at her and... shit, Brad! She looked like she was humpin' the Teevee! It wasn't even on, jus' static, and she was grindin' her cootch against the screen, smearing her mess all over it. Then she started talking to herself, only it was like there was someone else there that only she could hear."

"I've got no other choice,' she says, "yes, that's a good idea. There's a knife in the kitchen. I can grab it quick, and be back before_ they_ catch on.' I've got no idea who Brit meant by _them_, but she seemed scared a'them. The she goes 'A disguise? To go outside... do you think it will be safe? Yes, yes I see..."

"Then she started mumblin' a buncha made up junk, sounded like 'Yawg-so-toth' and 'K'tulu' and crap like that. I didn't know what she was talkin' about last night, but today, I saw she'd gone through my old sports stuff, from the attic. The only thing missing was my old goalie hockey mask..." Tiff trailed off, and an uncomfortable silence descended onto the car.

"Well... maybe it's just a costume. She did get an invitation, right?" Brad suggested, hoping to relieve some of the tension. Even he had to admit Brit's actions, even heard second hand, were creeping him out.

"C'mon, I need you to show me around..." said Brad as they parked in front of Don Prima's expansive manor. Tiff still looked depressed, so Brad graciously extended his hand to help her up, with a flourish adding "...M'lady."

Tiff couldn't help but smile, and took Brad's hand. The couple walked the short trail up to the front entrance of Don's house. The gigantic mansion left Brad in complete awe, and even Tiff remained impressed, despite having been to the Prima manor several times in the past. The entire grounds had been decked out with jack-o-lanterns and other festive decorations, but despite this there was still something in the air that lent an inescapable creepiness to their surroundings.

Brad and Tiff exchanged a worried glance, both teens feeling the hair on the back of their necks standing on end. Brad knocked on the massive wooden front door, impatient to get indoors. He didn't know why, but he knew, just _knew_ in his bones that something bad was gonna happen tonight.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"You look lovely in that costume my dear." Don Prima said with a slight slur in his voice.

In one hand he held a martini, the cause of his minor speech impediment, and in the other hand he held the buxom ass of the young lady he was attempting to romance. She giggled nervously and perhaps a little flattered, which Don took as a good sign.

"In fact, you remind me of a certain intern I knew once..." laughed Don, playing off the costume he was wearing. There was a lot about the forty-second president of the United States that Don could identify with, not the least of which was his taste in women. It was a pretty easy costume to fix up too; he owned plenty of nice suits, some white spray-in hair coloring, and if he hadn't picked up a decent girl halfway through the night he could even go grab his saxophone and play a short solo. That always worked.

"I keep hearing that the _real_ party is upstairs though... any chance you could take me up there?" the girl purred, fluttering her eyes in Don's direction.

Don laughed a little, and gave her ass a sharp squeeze. "Well you've already passed the first test... you found out about it. It's supposed to be a secret." whispered Don, leaning his face in closer to hers.

"First test? Then what's the second?" she asked, her nose wrinkling at the proximity of Don's martini-breath.

"You gotta be able to fit all of_ this_..." Don took her hand and placed it on his crotch "...into your mouth. Think you're up to the challenge?"

She giggled a little and tried to pull away, looking nervously over her shoulder. Don just flashed her a confident grin, and whispered "Meet me in the bathroom in fifteen minutes, and we'll see. I've got to go play host a little while longer." With another quick swat to her bottom, Don walked off to greet more party guests and survey the eligible ladies.

He had liked the look of, of... whatever her name was. Maybe Becky? Well anyway, Becky was pretty hot, but there was always the possibility of finding someone better. Perhaps one that wasn't looking to sleep her way to the "private club" on the second floor. Don took a quick survey of the main hall, getting his bearings through the cloud of drunkenness he was experiencing.

Right now he was in the large central parlor room of the ground floor, where the bulk of the party was situated. All around him swarmed party guests, dressed as all manner of monsters, celebrities, and pop culture icons. At one end of the room a space had been cleared as a dance floor, where Ginger, Posh and Sporty Spice danced with half the cast of the "A-team" to the club music being spun by an amateur DJ dressed as a Grim Reaper.

The usual mix of pop music like Chip Skylark and Britney Britney was complimented by the hard rock of "Ember", many of who's songs had a decidedly Halloween-y tone to them. Elsewhere people were admiring the many Halloween decorations, or passing through the "haunted hallway", a darkened alcove where guests could touch bowls of peeled grapes or raw chicken and be told they were "eyeballs" and "brains". No one was actually scared of course, but it was a convenient place for two people to duck into for a quick make out and fondling session. Which seemed even more juvenile considering what was going on upstairs.

It was a well known "secret" at Tremorton high that Don Prima always reserved some special entertainments for the elite few, the crème de la crème. Really it was mostly just underage drinking, but why ruin the mystery for those outside the inner circle? Don allowed some light drug use up there as well, though that wasn't something Don ever provided for guests. Plausible deniability, and all that.

There real excitement of the second floor came from what the guests themselves brought; over the years, a sort of swingers' club had developed. Don remembered that it had started out as a game of strip poker, descended into booze-fueled group sex, and become a tradition ever since then. And of course, each party the guests demanded things be kept interesting, new and titillating. And that's why Don Prima's parties had become so famous... Don could deliver exactly the sort of thrills his guests were looking for.

Seeking out the largest gathering of single females, Don stepped down into a lowered section of the room where a trio of couches circled around a coffee table and faced a large plasma screen television, where a rented DVD of "Mysterious mysteries" was playing but largely ignored. All eyes were instead on Jenny Wakeman and her new boyfriend the Silver Shell.

Silver Shell had lately become a local celebrity and town hero in his own right (even while under the shadow of the much more accomplished Jennifer Wakeman) and while a couple of the girls seemed mildly interested in him, most were instead fawning over Jenny's obviously pregnant belly and gushing over the prospect of her imminent baby.

"Does it kick? Can I feel it kick?"

"When are you due?"

"do you know if it's going to be a boy or a girl?"

Jenny answered each question in turn, quite enjoying being the center of attention. "I'll be happy so long as it has all it's gears in the right place" beamed Jenny, patting her stomach with motherly pride. With a sudden start, Jenny gasped and pulled the hands of her admirers against her pregnant swelling. "Girls, girls, quick! Feel here... the baby is welding!"

While the crowd of teen girls _oohh_'d and _ahh_'d at the small amount of heat and light that managed to filter through Jenny's skin and the material of her costume, Sheldon looked on dispassionately. In his lap he held a bowl filled with Halloween treats, none of which he could eat.

"Boy, I'd _kill_ to be able to taste chocolate again. You really don't know what you've got till it's gone." Turning to face Jenny he asked "Is there such as thing as... I dunno, robot candy?"

Jenny shrugged. "Don't think so. Why, is candy good?"

Silver Shell just groaned, looking forlornly at the bowl of treats. Don was quickly getting bored with this... he had invited Jenny in the hopes that she might get into another fight, or drunk or find some reason to strip out of her clothes again.

Where was Brittany Crust, anyway? If anyone could get a rise out of Jenny, it would be her. Scanning the crowds, Don couldn't find any trace of the girl. Pteresa, Jantrice, potted plant, Stephanie, dude dressed as the Crimson Chin, window, Jaso...Ahhh!

Don let out a surprised yelp and nearly spilled his drink when he spotted someone lurking in the bushes outside the house, a sinister hockey mask and wicked looking knife pressed up against the glass of the window.

"You alright Don?" asked Silver Shell, seeing the frightened look on his face.

Don glanced over at Silver Shell, then back to the window, and the terror-inducing image was gone.

Never mind, the combination of drinking and Halloween wasn't always the best thing for his nerves. Don waved it off.

"Nothing, nothing. Too many teen-slasher flicks. I'm gonna keep moving though, I don't want to think about all this maternity stuff."

Continuing his search for Brit Crust, Don headed to another part of his house. He was just about finished the ground floor when he made his way into the kitchen and spotted Brit's cousin Tiffany. This raised Don's hopes, as where ever Tiff was Brit could be sure to be close by. Cautiously he crept up closer to the girl and the young man she was conversing with, attempting to eavesdrop for the fun of it.

"So then, why haven't you told your aunt and uncle about any of this yet? They might be able to get her some help, you know, in an institution or something." suggested the boy Tiff was with, whom Don now recognized as Brad Carbunkle.

"Nahh, they wouldn't never believe me. I'm not the 'favorite'" Tiff scoffed. Brad looked doubtful, and Tiff decided to explain. "You ever wonder why Brit and me is so diffr'nt, even though we's cousins?"

Brad shrugged, never having given it much thought before. Taking a breath, Tiff started into her story.

"My mom was the younger sister a' Brit's dad. They weren't much alike. The Crust family started out over in Britain, part a' the reason why we've got so much connections in the fashion world. Brit's dad was the 'good son', always studyin' and learnin' howta be snobby, like he was supposed to. He eventually took a tour of Egypt as part of his archaeological research, where he met Brit's mom and got even more rich by finding a buncha ancient treasure in some tomb."

"My mom, on the other hand, got into the whole brit-punk counterculture thang. When she got knocked up by one of her rocker friends the family disowned her, and she moved to America with my pop. Dad took off when his music career didn't, and mom and I had to live in a pretty crappy part of town."

"I was about four years old when Brit's family moved to Tremorton to settle in. My mom heard about it, and sent me over here to live with them. See, she wanted me to have a better childhood then she was capable of givin', cause we were always so poor. Somehow mom convinced Brit's folks to take me in, and they raised me like I was Brit's little sister. But I ain't ever lost th' accent I picked up in the ghetto, and Brit and her parents ain't ever let me forget where I come from neither." Tiff halted abruptly, noticing Don Prima listening intrusively a step behind Brad. "Excuse me, can I help you?" Tiff snapped sarcastically at him.

"Yes, hello there Tiff darling." greeted Don, "I was looking for your cousin Brit and wondered if you knew where she might be?"

Tiff shrugged "I dunno, I didn't come with her this year."

Don was surprised at this turn of events. He'd never known the Crust cousins to go anywhere apart before.

Maybe this could be a good thing. Although Don had been looking forward to his usual tryst with Brit, without her around to be overprotective of her younger cousin Don might be able to score with Tiff instead. And that was **definitely** an ass he'd like to tap.

"May I say you look lovely tonight Tiff. The costume really shows off the 'junk in your trunk', as they say. You're dressed as...?"

"Tomb Raider." Tiff growled, not at all amused by Don's rather insulting attempt to seduce her. She reached out and noticeably took Brad's hand in her own, hoping Don would pick up on this unsubtle hint before he said something that would make Tiff punch his lights out.

Thankfully, he seemed to get the picture.

"Oh, you two are...?"

Brad grinned proudly, answering "Yeah, we are." while giving Tiff's hand a squeeze.

Don, losing none of his enthusiasm, elbowed Brad with a chuckle and a drunken smirk "Guess I'll see you two later tonight then. You want her back side or front? Ha!"

Tiff's pupils shrank to pinpoints, and Brad managed to catch her just as she wound up to deliver a haymaker to Don's paunch.

"Tiff, Tiff, wait, let's just, c'mon, wait, Tiff!" Brad stalled, struggling to forcibly keep his date under control as Don Prima sauntered off elsewhere, utterly oblivious to the beating he was just narrowly saved from. Needing to get Tiff's mind onto something else, Brad lead her out of the kitchen, seeking a distraction elsewhere in the party.

"Come on Tiff, let's see what's out here... uh-oh."

Stepping out of the kitchen, Brad spotted Jenny and Sheldon from across the lounge and ducked back the way he came. Tiff's anger was replaced by confusion. "Whatsa matter, I thought you'd wanna talk to your friends?"

Brad's apprehension remained unchanged. "I haven't talked to either of them since Jenny and I broke up. And I don't know what's gonna happen now. I still want to be friends with Jenny, but, y'know... stuff was said."

Brad shifted in place nervously, and Tiff crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. "Well you're gonna hafta talk ta her sometime. You want me to go out there and say sum'thin?"

"No!" gasped Brad, seizing Tiff before she could walk away. "Look, I just need a little time to get my head in order, ok? Figure out who needs to apologize for what. For now, could we just go somewhere they won't bump into us?"

Tiff thought about that, hesitant to suggest it but, well...

"I could take you upstairs, if ya want..." At least it would get her away from Don Prima, as he seemed to be cruising exclusively on the first floor for now. She had also been hoping she would get some alone time with Brad tonight, so perhaps they could find some privacy up there as well.

Brad agreed, his curiosity about what was up on the second floor showing in his voice. As Tiff lead them both up the staircase she tried to prepare her date for what they would see.

"So, it might be kinda a shock to see some of the stuff goin' on up there. I know it was for me. But if you want we can just-" Tiff was interrupted by a burly bouncer on Prima's payroll shoving a hand in Tiff face and blocking her ascent.

"Private party toots. Invitation only." he growled, not even bothering to check the list.

Tiff was already aggravated from Don Prima's chauvinism, and released her pent up aggression in the form of a swift stiff boot to the bouncer's crotch, which resounded with an audible _crunch_ and dropped the flunkie straight to the ground.

His voice strained with pain, the guard did his best to maintain decorum "Oh, Ms. Crust. _-cough cough-_ I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. Please -_cough_- go right up."

Tiff and Brad stepped over the fallen bouncer and continued climbing the stairs. "Sorry you had to see that." apologized Tiff, though Brad wasn't at all put off.

"Are you kidding?" he asked with a wide grin "I think I'm even more attracted to you then I was before."

Tiff giggled and felt herself blush a little. Normally Brit would've told her to act 'ladylike' during a social function like this. Brad's approval was a welcome breath of fresh air, and once again Tiff felt like she could actually be herself around him. Reaching the second floor, Tiff closed the distance between herself and Brad, pressing her body affectionately against his. Unfortunately, Brad's attention was currently elsewhere.

"Holy..." Brad breathed, taking in the decadence of the upper level.

The Halloween decorations were few and far between, so as not to cover up the fine quality of the furnishings. A large stone fireplace dominated one side of the spacious room, in front of which a few guests were sipping brandy as they conversed and poked the sizable fire. Individual partygoers passed between a few small clusters that had formed, thick, soft carpet cushioned every step they took. Against one wall there was an open bar where guests could request whatever drink they preferred, and nearby a professional looking game of poker was being played, the stakes clearly high.

Overall, Brad thought it had an atmosphere somewhere between a modern casino and a 19th century gentleman's club, except for one very important difference.

The second floor seemed to be "clothing optional".

And more then just that, observed Brad as he gawked at some of the passing females, their bare breasts jiggling with each step. The majority of the party guests up here weren't merely naked, but were actually engaged in sexual activities. Only one couple had gone so far as to actually start fucking in public (and even then, the guy had pressed his girl up against the wall so all anyone could see was her spread legs and his naked butt humping back and forth) but almost everyone was involved with some kind of casual foreplay.

There were some Halloween costumes up here as well, though they were all of an overly provocative nature; on first glance Brad could spot three devil-girls, a "wicked witch" that had traded the warty nose and green skin for thigh-high striped stockings and a garter belt, and even Elvira (or was it Morticia Adams?) who had her breasts bared and giggled as she was felt up by a pair of curious teenage boys.

Brad was stunned. Not only at the raw hedonism on display, but by the fact that most of these people he recognized from his high school. Everyone up here was clearly in the "in" crowd, but he'd never guessed that kids he'd sat next to in math class by day would be kissing and licking, groping and sucking each other by night!

A slight pressure against his chin brought Brad out of his trance. It wasn't until Tiff had forcibly closed his mouth for him that Brad had even realized his jaw had been hanging open the entire time he ogled the scantily clad females.

"aheh heh, sorry." he muttered apologetically, while Tiff just looked at him with equal parts scorn and amusement.

"A little much eh? An' the party hasn't even gotten started yet." she claimed nonchalantly.

As Brad still seemed too overwhelmed Tiff took his hand and led him over to the bar, ordering them both a rum & coke.

Fortified by his shot of liquor Brad managed to settle himself down and actually start to grow accustomed to the bawdy scene. Tiff sipped her drink, her mood remaining rather dour. Noticing, Brad leaned himself in closer to her and tried to get her to lighten up a bit.

"So, you come here often?" he asked sarcastically, feigning an overused pickup line to try to get his date to smile.

Instead, Tiff responded genuinely, "Yeah, unfortunately. More'n I'd like to."

This caught Brad a little by surprise. Tiff, along with her cousin Brit were well known around Tremorton as the hippest socialites in the city. Brad had figured that Tiff spent most nights out at Don Prima's, happily living it up with all her party friends.

Tiff noticed Brad's look of confusion, and clarified "This scene was really Brit's thing, not mine. I ain't boy-crazy like she is."

Before he could inquire further however, a delicate hand touched his shoulder. Brad spun his gaze around to face a pretty young girl with a sultry smile, costumed as a vampiress with a neckline that plunged past her midriff.

"I haven't seen you here before." she stated prettily, "Wanna dance with me?"

"Well, I'd like to, but," Brad stalled, before being saved by Tiff loudly clearing her throat.

"A-_hem_." She coughed, catching the girl's attention. The menacing glare Tiff gave her left no doubt about the situation.

"Oh, sorry Tiff. I... I didn't know..." the girl apologized, clearly afraid of Tiff, before retreating back to the dance floor. Brad was impressed once again, and flattered that girls were, to some extent, fighting over him.

He sensed Tiff wasn't as amused though, and the interested looks he was drawing from other girls in the room (and a couple of boys as well, he noted with a shiver) let him know it was likely to happen again.

"Maybe we should try to find somewhere a little more private." Brad suggested, which Tiff seemed pleased to hear. After knocking to make sure it was unoccupied, the pair ducked into one of the many guest rooms that had been set aside for couples seeking some time alone together.

Closing the door behind them and following Tiff into the room, Brad sat down beside her on the bed provided.

"So, what do you wanna do?" asked Brad hopefully, wondering if Tiff would be interested in another make-out session. He slid closer and wrapped his arm over her shoulders, cozying up to his date as he had learned to do from television and movies. Tiff's discomfort was palpable though, and Brad could instantly tell something was wrong. "Tiff, what's up? You've been acting kinda quiet or depressed since we bumped into Don Prima. Something bugging you?"

Tiff nervously twiddled her fingers and looked down at the floor, seeking her voice. "Lissen... Brad. Tell me honestly; do you think I'm _easy_?"

_Wuh-oh_, thought Brad, alarm bells going off in his head, _This is one of those 'no win' questions, isn't it?_

He pondered for a moment, choosing his words to be honest without sounding insulting.

"Welllll... Some of the guys around school do talk about you and Brit. I know they're just rumors though... right?" he asked, hoping to be corrected "I mean, you two didn't _actually_ suck off an entire boy-band, did you?"

Tiff's cheeks turned crimson, but she otherwise didn't comment.

"Yeah, there are alotta rumors about me and Brit. The point is, ...I really like you. And I'd like us to be... closer. But don't want my ah, _reputation_ ta scare ya off. So I wanna set the record straight, so you don't get th' wrong idea about me." As an afterthought, she muttered under her breath "Plus, that was mostly Brit, I only blew the drummer..."

"R'member how I told you about how my mom got pregnant wit' me in her teens, and it got her kicked out of home an' stuff? Before she sent me away to live in Tremorton, she made me promise that I wouldn't wreck mah life like she did. So that's like, the one piece of parenting I ever got from her; to keep mah cherry till I got myself a husband." Tiff sighed, reminded of the mother she had lost.

Brad nodded along, reserving judgement until Tiff was finished.

"So then," he asked cautiously "how did you get your, ermm, _reputation_?"

"As a matter a' fact, it was b'cause of a party at Prima's, like this one." Tiff said, leaning closer to Brad an settling herself against his chest, the arm draped over her making her feel protected.

"I dunno when Brit first started sleepin' around wit' guys. I don't wanna know either, cause I'd bet it's earlier then I wanna think about. But a couple of years back, when we had just started going out at night by ourselves for the first time, Brit takes me to one of Prima's parties. I hung out downstairs for awhile, and it was pretty cool considerin' I was a fourteen year old and hadn't been to many really wild parties yet. Brit disappeared on me, then comes back like an hour later saying I gots ta do somethin' for her."

"She takes me upstairs and explains that there's like this private club, super exclusive and only the coolest kids are allowed in. And mor'n that, if we get in here then it'll open all sortsa doors for us all over town. But the thing is, to get in I gotta have sex with Don, cause he's got all the connections to make it happen. I asked her why she didn't just have sex wit' him, and Brit acts all insulted and said Don wasn't interested, he wanted to do me instead. I didn't want to make Brit mad, cause she's mah best friend and was always lookin' out for me since I was the "new kid" in Tremorton for awhile. So I told her about my promise to my mum. She didn't get mad, she said she knew away around it so that I wouldn't lose my cherry."

Brad quirked an eyebrow but said nothing, eager to hear the rest of Tiff's story. He gently rubbed his hand in small circles over her back, urging her to continue.

"So I did what Brit said, I got naked and she went out ta talk to Don. When they came back Brit got me to bend over on the bed, and I felt her start pokin' her fingers around in my butthole, getting' it slippery with her spit or something. At first I kept my eyes shut cause I was embarrassed, and I felt Don get up on top of me and push his dick into my ass. I guess I was kinda lucky, cause it didn't hurt that much, since Don's not the biggest dude I've ever been with."

This little bit of info made Brad smirk; he knew _it wasn't the size of the tool, it was how you use it_ and all that, but it was still a little gratifying to hear that the otherwise intimidating Don Prima was on the diminutive side downstairs.

"After a while I started getting' used to it, and when I looked behind me I saw Brit hangin' off Don, kissing him and whisperin' stuff to him. When he was done Don pulled out and shot his wad on my butt, then left me and Brit to get cleaned up. I don't know what Brit was sayin' to him, but ever since then we got into all kinda exclusive places, including getting invites to all of Prima's parties, and plenty of other parties too." Tiff shifted in her seat, and leaned her head against Brad's shoulder, petting her hand against his chest as she told her story.

"Eventually I got to liking sex, or at least anal sex anyway. Brit an' me would go out to clubs and pick up guys a lot, and while usually I wouldn't let them get that far, whenever everybody thought I was sleeping with a guy I really only ever let him fuck my ass instead. It was sorta my last ditch, ahh, _backdoor_ outta losing mah cherry."

Unable to help but smirk from Tiff's inadvertent pun, Brad gently stroked his fingers through her hair in an attempt to soothe her.

"I ...see." said Brad, unsure how to proceed. "Well knowing that, I can tell you I don't think you're at all slutty. It sounds like, if anything, you're more respectable then a lot of girls." Thinking back to the illuminating display he'd just witnessed in the party outside, he added "A **lot** of girls."

Tiff rested her head against Brad's shoulder and held onto him, her frown fading as she felt a glimmer of hope. "Well, would you think I was easy if... I told you I was hoping _we_ could do something like that... soon?"

Pursing his lips with pleasant surprise, Brad whistled and said "Considering the other girls I've been with, waiting until the second date practically makes you a nun by comparison."

Tiff looked at Brad, her expression serious. "Don't joke." she said quietly, sobering Brad's humour.

Speaking with measured breaths, Brad responded sincerely ""Tiff...I'm thrilled that you really like me. I think you're one of the coolest and cutest girls around ...and definitely a _lady_."

Tiff lifted her face to kiss Brad, sealing their lips together and closing her eyes. Brad guessed that was what she'd been waiting to hear.

Tiff had been feeling a sexual attraction to him but had been ashamed to act on it because of her previous experiences with sex. Now that she had been given 'permission', Brad was experiencing the sexual aggression that Tiff had previously kept bottled up around him.

Her lips parted and Tiff's tongue pushed it's way into Brad's mouth, hungrily seeking out his own. A little surprised but also enjoying Tiff's forward approach, Brad responded with equal force, their tongues wrestling and reaching his arms around her to grind Tiff's soft body against his own. Tiff broke the kiss, slipping her mouth down the side of Brad's neck and lightly pressing the edge of her teeth against the sensitive skin there. Gasping involuntarily from the sensation, Brad could feel Tiff alternating between teasing licks and playful love bites.

Between the sexual display of the party, Tiff's story and the sensuality of her kisses, Brad's cock quickly grew almost painfully hard inside his boxers. Brad groped down at Tiff's bare thighs, and ground himself against Tiff, unknowingly prodding her side with the tip of his erection.

"Tiff," he breathed, pulling back from her momentarily "how far do you want this to go?"

Tiff halted her kissing and licking, and looked up into Brad's eyes. "I don't know..." she said, unsure.

"But, I know I wanna to go farther then this." she said definitively, immediately before peeling off her top up over her head and tossing it aside, revealing her bare breasts to Brad's eyes for the first time.

Brad's eyes lit up as he grinned widely, letting Tiff know he liked what he saw before she could even ask the question. Eager to show her just how much he liked them, Brad practically tackled Tiff as he returned to kissing her, pushing her backwards onto the bed and bringing up a hand to fondle one of Tiff's plump knockers. Tiff welcomed him on top of her by encircling his waist with her legs, drawing him in close while her hands worked at removing Brad's shirt. By the time she had successfully stripped Brad's chest naked he had already made his way down to her chest, sucking on one erect nipple while happily fondling the other.

Brad, licking the fleshy nip in his mouth, found that he thoroughly enjoyed being able to suck a girl's nipple without getting a painful shock for his troubles.

"Brad..." Tiff groaned in pleasure, reaching behind him to grope at Brad's butt with both hands. Brad pushed forward, dry-humping the lump in his pants against the crotch of Tiff's khaki shorts, feeling her push back against him in kind.

"Hhhn. Brad... I want you..." she sighed.

After giving her left breast a parting nip with his teeth, Brad lifted himself up on his hands and looked down at the horny, half-naked girl beneath him.

"What do you want, gorgeous?" he asked playfully, eliciting a pleased smile from Tiff. Reaching down between them, Tiff grabbed hold of Brad's bulge and lightly squeezed.

"I wanna see your big dick." she whispered, her voice husky and sexual.

Brad rolled off of her and onto his back on the bed, Tiff following right behind him and crawling up between his spread legs until she was eye level with his groin. With a degree of pride Brad loosed his belt and tugged down his zipper, Tiff watching every movement with rapt fascination. When he finally fished his manhood out of the fly of his boxers and brought it out, proudly standing fully erect right in Tiff's face, Tiff almost squealed with delight.

Not wasting any time or bothering to ask for permission, Tiff took hold of Brad's member with both hands and leaned forward to touch the swollen knob against her lips. Showing more enthusiasm then Brad thought possible, Tiff touched and explored every part of his cock with her fingers as though it was the most interesting thing in the world to her, all while massaging the shaft with light touches of her soft lips. Brad sighed as each touch Tiff gave him sent small bolts of pleasure to his brain. He realized that Tiff was clearly **really** skilled at this, even more so then Misty had been.

Tiff looked up with love and admiration at Brad, flashing him a pretty smile before engulfing his cock in her mouth.

"Oohhhng!" croaked Brad, suddenly surrounded by the hot wet flesh of Tiff's lips and tongue, her slick saliva washing over his shaft and soon coating him down to his balls. Sucking hard on Brad's thick maleness Tiff worked her way down to the base of his cock, relaxing the muscles of her throat and suppressing her gag reflex as she determinedly slid inch after inch of cockmeat down her gullet. Finally her lips met the base of his groin and her nose pressed into the crinkly red pubic hair that crowned his genitals, and Tiff closed her eyes and sighed contentedly. Tiff's esophagus muscles squeezed and stroked at his flesh, and Brad got the impression her throat was attempting to swallow him whole.

The effect created was the best blowjob Brad had ever experienced, every part of Tiff's mouth lovingly sucking and massaging Brad's cock, her tongue pressing against his shaft to add additional pressure.

_Holy Shit_ Brad's mind screamed,_ I'm about to cum already!_

Tiff hadn't even bobbed her head to give him a single stroke yet, and Brad felt himself tottering on the edge of climax, his cum ready to burst from his cock at the slightest provocation. Tiff must have taken a deep breath, because she made no move to remove the length of cock from her throat for quite awhile. Instead she only made a cute purring sound that sent vibrations down the the very root of Brad's equipment, and snaked her tongue out the underside of Brad's shaft to gently prod and tickle the sensitive testicles still hidden inside his underwear.

"Uhrgg, hhrrn, Tfft... Tiff..." Brad struggled to force his breath out past his lips to form words, but found it impossible. Just when he feared he would pass out, or drown Tiff with a fountain of ejaculate, or more likely both, Tiff withdrew her mouth with a wet slurp and took in a lungful of air. Wiping her mouth on her forearm Tiff grinned down at her display of oral prowess. Brad's cock was pointed directly up at the ceiling, glistening with Tiff's saliva and twitching with every beat of Brad's furiously pumping heart.

"Want me ta do it again?" prompted Tiff, but Brad threw up a hand to stop her.

"I do, except that I think it'd leave me cross-eyed. How about I return the favor first, so 'little Brad' can take a quick breather?"

Tiff retreated a half step from him, turning to the side so that she was facing him in profile. At that moment, with her sunglasses perched atop her head and her shorts appropriately skintight, Brad was reminded just how much Tiff looked like Lara Croft in that costume of hers.

As he watched, Tiff's hands cupped her breasts, then slid down across her belly and over her hips, slipping under the waistband of her khakis to each cheek of her bum. As one Tiff's shorts and underwear were pushed down over her wide hips and shapely rump, down to her knees.

"Time enough for that later chile..." purred Tiff, as Brad reached out for her. Her increasing nudity had him spellbound, and he knew she could get him to do anything she pleased simply by asking. She arched her back, thrusting out her backside in his direction, the plump lips of her damp pussy peeking out between her thighs. "Right now I'm dyin' ta feel you _inside mah asshole_..."

Tiff's provocative pose, luscious body and dirty talk combined to form a spike of pure eroticism that shot through Brad like a lightning bolt, and he felt his entire lower body tense. In his mind, he imagined exactly what it must feel like to have Tiff's supple rump planted firmly against his groin, to feel his throbbing manhood engulfed by the pouting, pink flesh of Tiff's dripping wet vagina, that even now was on display three feet away from him, quivering with excited anticipation. Tiff's raw sexuality was overpowering, intoxicating, and started the spark of orgasm in Brad's loins. His erection, pointing directly at Tiff and without being touched by anyone, lurched from the muscle spasm and spurted a thick gob of semen into the air that splattered messily against Tiff's hip. She shrieked happily in surprise while Brad instantly grabbed at his crotch, desperate to halt the orgasm that bubbled inside him, threatening to come crashing to the surface with less then a moment's notice.

While Brad did his best to subdue his rampaging urge to climax, Tiff scooped up the splash of his sperm onto her fingers and sucked some into her mouth, giggling her approval.

"Tiff, I don't know if I can last very long." Brad warned, his voice shaky.

Tiff smiled however, bending over onto one arm while bringing the semen coated finger behind her, smearing Brad's earlier spurt onto her puckered rosebud.

"Please hon, I just wanna feel you inside me. It doesn't matter for how long."

Brad climbed up behind his eager young lover, holding onto her hips for support as he lined up the tip of his penis with her rear entrance. His penis lightly bumped against the swollen and aroused lips of Tiff's virgin pussy, making her shiver with pleasure from the brief contact. As tempting as it would be to push forward and deflower Tiff then and there, Brad new he could never betray her trust like that. And besides, he'd never had the opportunity to have anal sex with a girl before, and he had to admit he was very curious. Carefully Brad nudged the tip of his pole into Tiff's lubed sphincter, which spread open to accommodate him as he gently pushed into her body.

As soon as her outer ring of muscle squeezed shut behind the flared head of his penis, Tiff pushed backwards at Brad's hips, greedily forcing the length of his shaft up inside herself. Brad watched as his entire cock was swallowed up right in front of his eyes.

"Nnnhhaaa..." cooed Tiff with satisfaction, starting to pump herself back and forth, working herself over on Brad's throbbing manhood, loving feeling the heat of it penetrating her. Quickly getting into the rhythm, Brad pushed back at her, each thrust of his hips driving his entire length into the warm depths of her body again and again. Each time the tight ring of her asshole providing tight strong strokes to his swollen prick, like a hot oiled hand furiously jacking him off.

Brad really couldn't help himself.

Pushing in until he bottomed out against Tiff's backside, Brad was overcome by the feeling of her curvy cheeks tight against his thighs, the light contact between his nutsack and her steamy cunt, the soft cries of pleasure coming from inside her chest. Holding tightly onto Tiff's hips to keep her in place, Brad cried out and erupted inside Tiff's ass.

"Oohh, baby!" she encouraged happily, as she felt a torrent of white hot cum issuing into her innards, filling Tiff with an inner warmth.

"Mmmm, thank ya cutie." purred Tiff to Brad, as he rested momentarily against her back and she turned her head around to plant a kiss on his cheek. Brad's member felt almost numb from over stimulation, but was still plugged deeply into Tiff's rectum, keeping the ocean of sperm he released tightly bottled up.

"Wow Brad, check how wet ya made mah cootch." Tiff said, bringing one of Brad's hands between her legs to touch her pussy, which was flowing like a miniature river and dripping down her thighs.

_Come on Brad, you can't leave her all hot and bothered like this_ Brad thought to himself, gathering up his inner stamina _keep it going just a little longer. Do it for Tiff!_

Sliding his hips away from and towards Tiff again, Brad set up a slow pace of humping back and forth. He no longer felt the incredible pleasure he was a minute ago, but even the small amount of stimulation he was getting was enough to keep his cock from softening back to it's usual flaccid state.

_Just long enough for Tiff to get her rocks off,_ he told himself, increasing his pace as his endurance returned. Tiff squealed with delighted surprise when it became clear she was getting a second round.

"Unh, oh yeah, yer cum's makin it all wet 'n slippery back there! Ouhhhh yeahhh... Fffuck me BRAD!" she groaned, her hands clutching handfuls of bedsheets to keep herself steady. Brad let his chest rest against Tiff's back, the small girl easily strong enough to support Brad's entire weight if she had to. Reaching under her body he cupped a breast in one hand, while his other continued to molest her dripping sex, quickly finding her engorged clit and rubbing her girl juice into it.

Tiff was quickly getting louder and louder as her excitement rose, moaning every second.

"Harder, fuck me harder! Oh God you feel good pounding my ass!" she begged, and Brad did his best to to give her what she was asking for. Between her legs Brad's fingers were busy stroking and fingering Tiff's pussy lips and clit.

Tentatively probing the tip of his finger into her vaginal orifice, he found that Tiff had been telling the truth earlier. Not that he hadn't believed her, but he had never actually touched an intact hymen before, and found the thin membrane of flesh oddly interesting. He felt her tense up and her cunt gripped down protectively when his fingertip touched it though, so Brad popped his finger free and concentrated on her external genitals instead, making a mental note to explore that later if he got the opportunity to eat Tiff out.

"Bra, Brad. Brad. I'm ...getting close..." Tiff whined, her voice thin. Brad could feel her anus spasmodically clenching against his invading rod, and knew it wouldn't take much more to push her over the edge.

Pressing his lips against the back of her neck and lightly taking her skin between his teeth, Brad growled and whispered to her "Do it Tiff. Show me how much you like it."

"Wuuaahhhhh! Ahhhh!" she howled as her orgasm rocked her frame. Her teeth clenched together, gritting them to limit the noise she was making, though Brad could still hear her grunting and moaning with each thrust he drove into her. Her asshole squeezed down tight on Brad's cock, and didn't let go. Brad kept his hand cupped against Tiff's pussy throughout the entire orgasm, and felt her literally gush a small puddle of heated girl-cum into the palm of his hand, which Brad smeared against her throbbing clitoris to give his girl as much stimulation as he could provide. Gradually Tiff's bucking slowed, then stopped, calming down the same as her breathing and heart rate did. Resting still on top of her Brad allowed his penis to grow soft, and the tight squeezing of Tiff's anal muscles soon pushed him out of her, closing up right behind him.

"Ohhhhh wow." Tiff breathed, flopping over onto her side in temporary exhaustion. Brad sat back on his haunches himself, grinning and laughing in the afterglow.

"Now I know why these parties are so legendary." he joked, eliciting a small chuckle from Tiff.

Crawling over to lay beside her, Brad draped his arm across her body and spooned her from behind. A brief break from the party would be a good idea about now. A little while later, perhaps, they would get dressed and head back out to socialize, but for now both young lovers felt they were exactly where they needed to be.

* * *

Less then ten yards away, the dozing forms of Brad and Tiff were watched with contempt and jealousy.

"_Kill them I'll kill them kill them dead hes' dead I'll cut his fucking heart out!_" Brit hissed to herself through gritted teeth, one hand holding on tight to the tree branch that she was currently perched on, the other spasmodically gripping and re-gripping the handle of the butcher knife she carried.

Brit had been tracking the young lovers almost since they had arrived at the party, and had yet to be noticed thanks to her disguise. The shabby clothes and hockey mask of her teen-slasher were nothing like Brit's past Halloween costumes; she had always gone dressed as persons of wealth and dignity in the past, such as Cleopatra, or Elizabeth Bathory.

But none of those costumes would have kept Brit's face hidden, and this persona had the added benefit of allowing her to carry a large blade out in the open without suspicion. Originally she had intended to remain hidden until they left the party, and follow them out to the parking lot, where Brit would have a shot at Brad. She hadn't intended to kill him... just hurt him, perhaps disfigure his face a little.

Make him pay for taking Tiff from her, turning Tiff against her.

_Corrupting_ Tiff.

But now, now... things had changed. Brad's existence could no longer be tolerated, he had pushed his relationship with Brit's cousin too far.

He had to die.

They were sleeping now, blissfully unaware of the doom that was approaching them. Brit was considering forcing the window open when she felt the first drops of rain land on her scalp, the short stubble that had started to regrow not protecting her at all. Her perch becoming increasingly slippery and not seeing any easy way to force the window's lock anyway, Brit gave up on that option. Grudgingly Brit climbed down from the tree she had been sitting in, plotting out a new route of attack.

At the front door of the mansion, Brit was easily allowed in by displaying her invitation to the doorman. At least her name still had some clout in this dismal little town, even in the wake her horrible loss against Je... the hated robot.

Brit sauntered into the party's ground floor, the laughter and merriment of the crowd grating on her nerves. Guests both costumed and not milled about, and as Brit pushed her way through the swarm of teenagers she spotted the object of her nightmares. Dr. Wakeman's lab creation, smiling and enjoying herself, was dancing side by side with her cybernetic boyfriend, the Silver Shell. The rest of the dancers had had to clear plenty of room around them so they could dance freely, as a casual bump from either of them could potentially be equivalent to the force of being hit by a car. Brit briefly considered throwing caution to the wind and lunging at her nemesis knife-first, and hoping it landed somewhere vulnerable.

"Later, concentrate on that later." Brit muttered to herself, too quietly for anyone to hear "for now, get Tiff back under your control. Must get to Brad." Brit paused, spotting the staircase that led upstairs, and the queasy looking bouncer standing watch.

That could be a problem. She would have to identify herself to get upstairs. In fact, she already had identified herself at the front entrance. If she just walked up there, she would be seen by dozens of guests and be arrested before she could even leave the building.

What was needed was some cover, perhaps a distraction of some sort. A small flash of inspiration occurred to Brit, and she crept unobtrusively towards the basement entrance. Her back against the door, Brit watched the room carefully, waiting for the best moment to slip away unnoticed.

On the dance floor, Jenny abruptly stopped her gyrations and took Sheldon by the hand. "Uhh, Shell honey, will you walk me to the bathroom please?" she whispered, leaning in close.

Mildly confused, Sheldon asked "Again? Isn't this the third time since we've gotten here?"

Jenny offered a small growl of annoyance, explaining "Hey, it's not my fault I only have a 20 waste bladder capacity left. It's just one of a bunch of systems that got compressed to make room for the baby."

Sheldon didn't want to even try arguing that point, so he dutifully followed Jenny to the lineup in front of the bathroom that had been set aside as the "ladies' room" for the night. Seeing the potential wait she would have to endure, Jenny clenched her legs together in mild anguish and groaned her frustration.

"Hey, don' wurry ab't that." offered a visibly drunk Don Prima, seeing Jenny's distress as he made his way through the party, "Jus' go out ta th' garage. Ther's an old buck (hic) -et I use f'r changin' the oil in m' car. (hic) You c'n use that."

Jenny frowned and stuck her tongue out with obvious distaste. Still, as she felt the pressure building in her abdomen and the lineup not seeming to be getting much shorter, she knew she had little choice if she wanted to avoid a malfunction of the pants-wetting variety. Jenny sighed as she headed for the garage, leading her boyfriend by the hand so he could stand guard at the door.

Brit watched the robotic couple go, and many people in the crowd started selecting their partners for the next song on the now-vacated dance floor. Sensing this was as good of an opportunity as she was going to get, Brit opened the door behind her back and stepped inside, quickly closing it behind her.

Flipping on a light switch she found herself in the mostly unfurnished basement, which was in stark contrast to the rest of the richly-appointed house. Without much trouble Brit Crust located her goal: the fuse box.

Resting her hand on the master power switch for the entire mansion, Brit paused a moment to mentally photograph the route back to the stairs and up to the ground floor, as she knew she would have to make her way there in absolute darkness. In that brief moment of reflection Brit felt the small hairs on her neck stand on end, the air seemingly electrified. Something about this moment seemed ominous, as though Brit was standing at a crossroads, about to choose a path she could not return from.

Hitting the switch instantly plunged the house into blackness. Cautiously, Brit blindly made her way back towards the staircase.

A sudden burst of light from behind her made her freeze.

Did the house have emergency backup power? Was her plan already foiled?

Spinning to face the light source, Brit gasped in shock at what she saw. Suspended in midair was a small diamond of sickly green light about the size of a baseball, bathing the cellar in it's pale glow. With a sound like tearing cardboard the diamond of light expanded, pulled wide by a black pair of claws that emerged from within it.

After being stretched open to the size of a typical doorway, a single lithe metallic leg emerged and found it's footing, soon followed by its owner. Brit squeaked in fear and awe at the terrible beauty of Vexus, queen of the Cluster.

"You. _Human_." Vexus hissed, addressing Brit.

The tyrant queen's words were laced with such hate and loathing that Brit found herself unable to speak, her words caught in her throat. Instead, she could only raise her knife as a token defense, which managed to make Vexus smirk in twisted amusement.

Vexus strode confidently forward, seizing Brit by her shirt and effortlessly lifting her off the ground. Though she still gripped her knife so hard her knuckles were white, Brit found she couldn't bring herself to stab or strike at her aggressor. She was simply too beautiful. Not by Earth standards, perhaps... Brit had long ago reached the conclusion that_ she_ was as attractive as an human woman could hope to be.

No, Vexus's fearsome beauty came from her seamless blending of form and function; every part of her body was a weapon, physical or otherwise. Brit could see it in the hateful sneer on Vexus' face, in the calculating gleam in her eyes, the proud swell of her chest and the confident posture of her hips. Brit recognized those attributes because she had seen them many times before... in herself. Compared to those qualities, the wickedly sharp talons at Brit's throat seemed almost inconsequential.

"Gckk." Brit sputtered, unable to draw breath. Vexus's grip remained tight, unknowingly choking the life out of her captive.

"Where is the one they call 'XJ-9'?" Vexus asked, though it sounded more like a command. Brit struggled and flailed helplessly until Vexus realized the problem and released her, dropping her unceremoniously to the ground.

"...She's... **cough** ...upstairs..." Brit wheezed as she tried to catch her breath. Vexus turned and headed up the stairs, switching on a night-vision option of her eyes to compensate for the lack of light (the glow from the portal having dissipated as it closed up behind her), leaving the injured and confused Brittany Crust alone in the dark.

Vexus emerged onto the ground floor and scanned the room for her quarry. The room was lit only by small flames burning inside curious little hollowed-out vegetables, which Vexus found slightly confusing. What was more, her sudden appearance wasn't causing the panic that she had expected... all the humans were wearing strange disguises, and Vexus seemed to be blending right in!

Well, that wasn't what she came here for anyway, she reminded herself. Failing to locate Jenny, Vexus did spot a second flight of stairs leading to a second level. Impatient to confront XJ-9 and making a snap decision, Vexus marched up the stairs in pursuit of Jenny.

"Woah there, are you on the list?" demanded the bouncer, putting himself in Vexus' path and extending his arm to stop her. With a growl Vexus reared back and prepared to gut this ignorant earthling, but was stopped a half second short by the arrival of Don Prima.

"She doesn't hafta be onna list." he slurred, leering at Vexus with bloodshot eyes. "She's the entertainment I hired for th' party."

Fearless, Don grabbed Vexus by her wrist and hurriedly lead her upstairs, the confused queen too stunned by the sheer gall of this human to immediately react. Reaching the second floor Don threw open the door, revealing the decadent scene within.

Up here was better lit, primarily by a large fireplace in one wall that cast a hellish orange glow on all the half-dressed occupants. Ushering her into the room, Don mentally composed himself, fighting off the effects of the alcohol long enough to make his announcement, "Hey everybody, the dominatrix is here!" which was met by some applause and a lot of expectant grins. "I hope you're all ready to bow down before your new mistress!"

_Mistress? Bow down?_ Vexus wasn't quite sure what was going on here, but it didn't sound half-bad.

Don briefly pulled her aside, "The safe word is 'Radzinski' ...oh, an' what name do you go by when you're working?" he asked, whispering.

Vexus blinked twice, unsure. "Vexus...?" she offered, which Don seemed to like well enough.

"Ahh, right... like the alien queen who invaded Tremorton last year, right? Nice. It took me a minute there to recognize your costume."

"Err, right. Exactly." Vexus offered, curious enough to play along with this if only to see just what was going on. Clearly these humans didn't realize who she _really_ was... or else they'd be fleeing in terror. Vexus felt rather insulted to have been mistaken for a human, and was just about to return to her mission of finding and killing XJ-9 (and any humans that got in her way) when a few of the more eager humans approached Vexus and knelt down in front of her.

"What do you want?" the Cluster Queen demanded harshly, her patience severely tested.

"Only to be your unworthy slaves." responded one of the three on the ground, feigning a look of fear while a suppressed delight lurked just underneath. Now that she looked, Vexus could see that all of these humans had the same expression of expectant lust hidden in their features, some more then others. It seemed that these people wanted, actually _enjoyed_ being dominated. Well, Vexus supposed she could indulge them, just a little.

Where to start? Queen Vexus had conquered dozens of planets, and had often enjoyed humiliating their former rulers as a part of her victory celebration. She scanned through her memories of such events, trying to choose a few amusing torments for these earthlings.

"You, slave," she called, indicating a male human in the crowd that was forming around her. The boy approached and was pushed to the ground by Vexus, who commanded "You shall address me only as 'your highness'. Now, my boots need cleaning... start licking."

With that slave set to his task, Vexus turned back to the throng of party guests and selected her next victim at random. This one was a female, Vexus noted as she examined her, and she had the delicate features of asian decent.

"I've been very naughty..." the girl professed, though her tone held more then a hint of pride.

"And what shall your punishment be?" Vexus asked aloud as she brainstormed ideas. She didn't have much experience as a torturer, but on the other hand, she had plenty of experience as a mother.

Seizing another human from the crowd, Vexus tossed this one onto all fours on the ground.

"Your name from now on is 'chair'. Get used to it." she ordered, then sat down squarely on "chair"'s back, her weight eliciting a muffled groan from the abused human. Positioning the asian girl over her lap, Vexus lifted the girl's too-short skirt over her hips to reveal the absence of any underwear.

"_Very_ naughty, I see..." Vexus smirked, then brought her flattened palm down hard against the girl's bare ass.

"Aaii!" yelped Vexus' victim, her cheeks quivering with the force of the slap. As the spectators watched and grew ever more excited, Vexus rained down blow after blow against the poor girl's increasingly reddened backside, each spank being met with a weak moan of mixed pain and pleasure. Despite the girl's weak cries of protest, Vexus couldn't help but notice that her legs were gradually parting ever so slightly, displaying her bare pussy to the other watching guests.

_This treatment must be having the desired effect_ thought Vexus with a smirk, detecting the girl's growing wetness staining her palm. Shifting in place, Vexus felt a trace of moisture between her own legs and knew that these 'games' were having an effect on her as well.

Growing bored with this one, Vexus beckoned Don Prima over and passed the asian girl to him. "Keep up what I was doing, I have others to get to." She stood, and sauntered through the crowd like a shark cruising for it's next meal. One after another, Vexus would pick out a human that struck her fancy and assign a sadistic and perverse "punishment" for them to enjoy. Some were as simple as a whipping, or being bound in leather restraints, or being teased by their fellows but kept from achieving orgasm until being forced to beg for mercy.

Others were more complicated...

Returning to her perch on "chair", Vexus sat back and watched. The entire room had been transformed into a dungeon of pleasure and pain, and everyone was calling out her name, calling to her for mercy.

It was... good.

She was reminded of her former throne on Cluster Prime, and several smaller secondary palaces built on conquered planets, where she would make lesser species dance and fight and die for the amusement of herself and her subjects. But all that was gone now.

XJ-9 had ruined it.

Not for the first time, Vexus reflected on how her plans for Jenny had gone so drastically wrong. Things started innocently enough. When word of an advanced, sentient robot living alone on an otherwise primitive world had reached Vexus, she went with standard protocol and sent an ambassador to invite XJ-9 into the Cluster citizenry. When the ambassador had been summarily dismantled in response, Vexus took a more active interest.

Several times she or her agents had made the trip to earth, to convince XJ-9 to join the Cluster by force or coercion, whatever might work. Eventually, Vexus had reached the conclusion that Jenny would never voluntarily come to the Cluster, so instead she set out to conquer Earth and make Jenny (and any other suitable robots) into members of the Cluster by default. Ironically, it was during the initial invasion that Jenny had accidentally found her way (by means of a dimensional portal) to Cluster Prime, the capital planet of the empire.

At the point in time of her arrival, Cluster Prime was perfectly at peace, every citizen knew their place in the greater scheme of things, like members of a family, or parts in an engine. Crime was _literally_ nonexistent. Vexus had long ago instituted a policy of removing the "golden chip" that controlled each robot's combat and advanced mobility functions, leaving every citizen utterly incapable of harming one another, or themselves. An honor guard was maintained to act as a police force, but they were really more for show then actual use.

And Jenny had managed to ruin **all that**.

Utopia, on a platter.

Jenny simply couldn't leave her super-heroics behind her. By the time Vexus had returned, Jenny had found the hidden cache of chips, and managed to corrupt Vexus' **own daughter** Vega with an offer of the chips' power.

Up until then Vega had been Vexus' best hope for an heir worthy to take the throne. Her older sister Nexus had abdictated the role when she up and left to create a rebel faction within the Cluster. Vexus believed Nexus' decision was the direct result of the faulty programming caused by the extremely restrictive breeding of the royal class. Brutus, the youngest and obvious runt of the litter, was simply _too_ young... not to mention mildly deformed.

But Vega seemed to be everything Vexus had hoped she would be: Cool-headed, a natural leader, and physically healthy to boot. Vexus had been planning to announce Vega's candidacy for the throne when she turned 18.

Sadly, she never got the chance; at the tender age of 16, Vega had capitalized on XJ-9's discovery and turned the golden chips over to the population of the capital city, completely overturning the balance of power on Vexus' lovely home planet.

In a way, Vexus was still proud of Vega. After all, Vega had seized power from _her_, and that was no easy task. Forming temporary alliances, kicking an enemy when they're down, taking any advantage available; these were the sort of lessons Vexus had taught Vega when she was young, and these were the very techniques that had ensured the Queen's downfall. If only Vega hadn't been so short sighted...

When the golden chips had first been distributed, and Vexus deposed, Vega had been declared ruler and everything seemed content. That had lasted about four days.

What did Vega and Jenny _think_ was going to happen? With a small minority of the aristocracy living in the capital city suddenly armed with devastating weaponry and the rest of the planet's population still utterly helpless, dozens of opportunists took advantage of the situation to set themselves up as petty kings and warlords. To this day, Cluster Prime was still rife with civil war, and who even knows if Vega was even still alive or not.

With armies drawn from the surrounding member-worlds of the Cluster, Vexus was gradually retaking Cluster Prime, but the process was slow and bloody. There were precious few resources that weren't committed to defending the Cluster's borders, and for every petty dictator that was toppled, two more would rise to replace them. Vexus could see that the entire Cluster was on the brink of collapse, and she had one long-shot, last ditch chance to save it. The royal family needed an infusion of "new blood", an upgrade for their archaic and failing designs.

Brutus was Vexus' only option for loyal grandchildren, and after searching the ranks of eligible Cluster females, Vexus was forced to come to the conclusion that XJ-9 was her best option, despite the effort it would require to obtain her.

The irony made her want to scream, that the very robot that had caused the current crisis would be offered a seat of power in the monarchy, to be the mother of the next ruler. But Vexus had swallowed her pride, and hoped that perhaps Jenny might be able to accept her as a mother-in-law... the circumstances being what they were, Vexus was currently in need of a replacement daughter.

Luckily the civil war on Cluster Prime had yielded a new weapon that would be the key to capturing Jenny: the EM cannon. With that, it had been child's play to abduct Jenny and render her helpless for the wedding. Once Brutus and Jenny were wed, their union would produce healthy, _sane_ and state-of-the-art grandchildren fit to unite and lead the Cluster into a new golden age.

That plan went down in flames.

It was painful to even think of the disastrous wedding, or Vexus' foolish hope that perhaps Nexus had returned to her, and Jenny wouldn't be needed after all. By the end of it Vexus had been left for dead, drifting in subspace, helpless to act while Brutus went missing, Jenny escaped, and Nexus' rebellion spread the civil war from the capital to the rest of the empire.

Once she recovered from the EM burst, and unable to put an end to the chaos that her empire had become, Vexus did the only thing that still made sense: she flew to Earth, seeking revenge.

And now, even if it killed her, Vexus swore she'd find XJ-9 and rip out whatever wretched device served as the little bitch's heart, and hold it in front of her eyes before crushing it into oily scrap metal.

"All done, _your highness_." said Don Prima, his smug voice breaking Vexus from her reverie. The asian girl that Vexus had entrusted to Don was no where to be found, but the unsubtle way Don zipped up the front of his pants as he approached gave Vexus a pretty clear idea of what had just finished.

"Very well," said Vexus, smiling hungrily at Don. Her daydreaming had given her an appetite for violence, and the activities of the deluded humans at the party were giving her an appetite for sex, too.

This Don character would do to satisfy both.

"Good job, _human_." Vexus purred, playing her role, "For that I think you deserve a reward."

Don grinned at her stupidly, ready for whatever she was about to give him. Taking a blindfold from the collection of toys brought by the various party guests, Vexus instructed Don to put it on, then when she was sure he couldn't see she began removing the metal sodpiece of her armor. Disengaging the clasps that held it in place, Vexus slid the panels away, revealing the stark white robotic vulva inside, her lower lips puckered and moist with arousal. From a distance her cunt probably looked normal enough, if very pale and completely shaved, and the only humans close enough to tell the difference were the blindfolded Don and 'chair', who's head was hung low and couldn't see Vexus on his back anyway.

Vexus gently guided Don to his knees in front of her, spreading her thighs apart as the over-eager Don went to work, eating her pussy out with gusto. Part of her knew this was all vaguely dirty and perverse, to allow a carbon-based life form to touch her most intimate of components, but that same perversity also drove Vexus onward, placing her hands on his head and pushing his mouth harder against her drooling sex. Besides, once she came she'd crush his head between her legs, killing him instantly. The thought that this ignorant Earthling would spend his last moments of life desperately trying to service her vagina with his mouth gave Vexus a shiver of pleasure, and she found nothing perverse about that.

Passing her hand across her chest, Vexus groped at her breasts through her clothing and wished that she could strip completely naked without giving herself away. This human was doing an admirable job, licking and sucking at her pussy lips, then worming his tongue as far into her tunnel as he could manage. Vexus felt herself getting ready to climax much earlier then she had expected.

Lapping hungrily at her spilling juices, Don was completely unaware of his approaching doom, every stroke of his tongue against Vexus' throbbing cunt bringing her closer to orgasm and him to a messy death. Vexus couldn't help herself from moaning, and spreading her slender thighs further apart in order to push her crotch harder against Don's face, smearing her warm fluids over his mouth and cheeks. For his part Don just muttered something against Vexus' folds, his words hopelessly muffled.

"Hhhrrrr..." Vexus groaned, feeling her orgasm's approach from deep inside her belly. Any second now she would cum, her pussy would spark with life-giving electricity, then she'd kill this fool between her legs followed by everyone else in the room. And it would all just be an appetizer compared to what she would do to Jenny. Vexus closed her eyes and waited for it to happen.

"**VEXUS**?!" came the shocked sound of Brad Carbunkle's voice, snapping Vexus' eyes open and killing her oncoming orgasm. "You're supposed to be dead!"

Vexus turned her head to face the disbelieving teen and the girl at his side who had apparently just emerged from a side room, snarling angrily at being robbed of her release. Standing, and pulling her sex-hungry pussy away from Don's tongue, Vexus challenged "I'm not... but you soon will be!" her confidence undimmed by the fact that her genitals were on full display to her enemies.

Pulling off his blindfold and looking up at his recent lover with confusion, Don meekly stuttered "You're... you're really...?"

With a fanged grin, Vexus answered "Yes... I _am._" before lashing out with a kick that caught Don square in the chest and sent him hurtling across the room and through the opposite window, which shattered on impact.

Instantly the crowd erupted with shrieks of panic and fear, some now realizing the danger in their midst, others merely reacting to the broken glass that rained down on their naked skin. Somewhere outside, Don landed a floor down in the garden, his fall broken by a cluster of rosebushes. Snapping her bottom back into place over her metallic snatch, Vexus turned to face Brad and Tiff, the distraction gone.

Smiling with undisguised malice, Vexus stalked towards Brad, her talons fully extended.

"Where is XJ-9?" demanded Vexus from between clenched teeth. Closing the distance between them in a few quick strides, Vexus seized Brad by the shoulders and lifted him into the air, driving home the fact that he was utterly helpless to resist her physically.

"You can tell me now," Vexus said with a cruel smile, raising one eyebrow, "but I think it'd be so much more fun to torture the information out of you, so feel free to resist. I think I'll start by removing your legs, and work up from there..."

"Put 'im down, robo-bitch!" yelled Tiff, slamming Vexus across the back with the wrought-iron fireplace poker.

Vexus grunted, dropping Brad to the ground and flinching, more from the audacity of the attack then any actual damage inflicted. The metal rod clattered to the ground, rendered useless by the force of the blow that had bent it into an obtuse angle. Tiff's eyes widened in fear as the angry Cluster Queen turned to face her, with an expression so angry her eyes glowed faintly red in the reflected firelight.

With a deep growl and a single stomp in Tiff's direction, Vexus' countenance of deadly majesty was enough to drop Tiff to her knees, throwing up her arms and screaming "She's downstairs! Jenny's downstairs, leave us alone!" in pure panic.

"Thank you, girl," said Vexus, her expression still grim, "I'll grant you a quick death for being so helpful."

Vexus raised one claw high in preparation to strike down the cowering Crust cousin. Brad's mind raced, devising a split-second plan that had only the slimmest chance of actually working, and leaped in between Vexus and Tiff. Drawing the replica pistol that made up part of his Indiana Jones costume, Brad pointed the "gun" straight in Vexus' face, watching for any hint, any _trace_ of fear.

Brad's heart skipped a beat when he noticed Vexus pull back a fraction of an inch, her eyes closing slightly.

"Back off!" he shouted forcefully, both their lives depending on his ability to convince Vexus he wasn't joking.

"You can't be serious... I'm bulletproof! Human weapons pose no threat to me." said Vexus with a contemptuous laugh, but Brad could detect a faint quiver in her synthesized voice.

"Maybe not." asserted Brad, "Or maybe it'll manage to shoot someplace vulnerable, a weak spot in your armor. Maybe it'll slow you down, just a little, just enough to give Jenny an edge when you find her. Maybe that edge will be the one thing to tip the fight in her favor, and she'll beat you again. Maybe. Are you willing to risk finding out... just to kill two lowly humans?"

Vexus frowned, staring into Brad's eyes. The look on her face told Brad she was weighing her options, watching him for any sign of weakness, or fear.

She found none.

"Very well. You two can live... for now." She declared, turning and stalking off towards the staircase.

She paused at the top of the stairs as she heard the_ click _of Brad's pistol being cocked, as he held it still trained on her every movement.

"If I feel so much as **one** bullet hit me... I will come over there and pull your lungs out through your eyes." Vexus declared icily. It was not a threat. It was a fact. Brad still held his fake gun steady, waiting, until Vexus at last disappeared down the staircase in search of her target.

As soon as Vexus was out of sight, Tiff and the other party guests began crowding around the boy that had saved their lives.

"Are you alright Brad?" asked Tiff, her voice a little hushed.

Brad offered a little chuckle, said "Never better." and felt his resolve finally slip. Brad's eyes rolled up into his head and the world faded out, just before he lost consciousness he felt Tiff catch his fainting body in her arms.

* * *

"The two teens huddled together in their car, to afraid to move. From outside, they could hear something scraping at the car doors, trying to get in. So far the locks had held, but when the couple held their breath and listened, they could hear the thing's claws _gouging_ chunks out of the metal. Before long it would chew a hole right into the side of the car, and they'd be dead!"

"So what happened?" asked one of the party guests with a gulp, echoing the thoughts of everyone who was sitting around, listening to Sheldon tell his ghost story.

Ever since the lights had gone out, taking with it the music, television, and threatening to end the party itself, Jenny had been working to keep the fun alive with a number of low-tech Halloween party games. Perhaps aided by the storm that had started up outside, not one of the party guests had left thus far, and more and more were getting into Sheldon's storytelling, including Jenny herself.

Now approaching the end of his tale, Sheldon activated one of Silver Shell's high-beams and angled it up at his face, giving his robot head a spectral quality. In the original version of this story he had read, this had been the part where Captain Crush had shown up to defeat the monster, but such a happy ending wouldn't due for a horror story. Sheldon would have to make up something scarier.

"The_ crunch crunch_ of metal being torn and eaten grew closer and closer. Whatever this beast was, it could rip through metal like it was made of butter! Just when they thought they were goners, the terrified teens heard the siren of a police cruiser, and saw the flashing red and blue lights of the squad car pulling up. Later on, when he was debriefed, the officer swore he saw something small and dark scamper out from under the teens' car and run off into the woods, but he could never bring himself to describe it in detail." said Sheldon, his voice lowered for dramatic purposes.

"So they survived?" asked Jenny, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"Of course they did," answered Sheldon, "How else would this story have gotten told if they didn't? But what they saw next haunted them for the rest of their lives..."

The the listening guests leaned closer, eager to learn the frightening secret.

"As the police officer shined his flashlight around_ Makeout Point_, they saw why they hadn't heard any of the other couples..._ every other car's interior was splattered with the guts of the killer's slaughtered teenage victims!_"

Several girls in the audience gasped or gave short shrieks, and several of the boys listening had disgusted frowns on. Sheldon felt proud of himself for being able to craft a ghost story capable of getting such a reaction from everyone. Well, everyone except Jenny, who still had a nonplussed, neutral expression on her face.

"That wasn't so scary." she commented, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

Sheldon grinned wickedly, inventing a last minute addition to his story "Well I wasn't finished. You see, the reason why the teens hadn't just driven away? They engine had been reduced to a brittle chunk of iron-oxide."

Jenny shivered, and instinctively wrapped her arms protectively around her pregnant belly. "You mean...?" she asked, and Sheldon nodded.

"That's right... the corroding touch of the metal-eating monster had turned the entire underside of the car into a big, _festering pile of rust_!" His last statement was accompanied by a flash of lightning that momentarily illuminated the entire room, and a deafening crash of thunder a millisecond behind it.

"**AHHHH!**" screamed Jenny, her eyes screwed shut and her body curling into a fetal position on the couch beside Silver Shell.

"Ah, heh heh... well, maybe I was a little scared." Jenny said with a sheepish smile, then cautiously uncurled herself and sat up when the thunder faded into silence.

Sheldon just smiled knowingly, putting his arm around Jenny protectively. Jenny patted her swollen midsection, casually mentioning "Ever since I became pregnant I've noticed I've gotten a lot more paranoid, jumpy. I feel like everything is trying to get me, or hurt the baby. Is that weird?"

"Nah," Sheldon reassured her "you're just being motherly. I'm sure it's just a natural part of your programming." Sheldon took Jenny's hand in his own, intending to calm her down. She felt Silver Shell suddenly grip her tightly as a loud knock sounded from the front door, echoing ominously in the dimly lit living room.

"...Rust monster...?" Jenny guessed, only half-joking.

A party-goer named Jantrice went to answer the door, and opening found the rain-soaked Tuck Carbunkle and Nora Wakeman.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Nora, as she and Tuck stepped in out of the rain. "I was taking Tuck here trick or treating when the rain suddenly started up, this was the closest house. Mind if we stay a little while until it lets up?"

Jantrice shrugged and returned to the party, just as Jenny went to go greet the new arrivals. "Mom, Tuck!" she called, startling her mother.

"Jenny! I didn't realize this was the location of the party you were going to. How is everything?"

"Oh, it's going ok. The power's out right now, but we're still having a good time... how about you Tuck, get much candy yet?" Jenny asked, ruffling Tuck's hair with one hand and looking at his costume, which seemed to be a cheaply put together Dracula outfit.

Tuck opened his mouth, but oddly, no words came out. Instead his plastic fangs fell out and dropped to the ground, though Tuck didn't seem to notice.

"Tuck? You ok?" asked Jenny, confused. Tuck didn't seem to be looking at her, he was looking at something behind her... Jenny had just started to feel a sense of dread beginning to form in her stomach when her mother shouted "Jenny, look out!"

The first punch landed on the back of Jenny's head, and sent her pitching forward, finally impacting against the far wall. Picking herself up and turning around, Jenny gasped when she saw it: her worst nightmare. Vexus had returned, and from the look of her was out for blood.

"W-what, what are you doing here?" Jenny stammered, confused by Vexus' seeming return from the dead.

Vexus bared her fangs in a grin that had no trace of mirth, and cocked her head to one side. "XJ-9, I'm here to **kill you**. Is this a **bad** time?"

At the sight of the dreaded Cluster Queen the crowd screamed, and ran to other parts of the house where they might be able to hide. Nora pulled Tuck aside protectively, backing towards potential cover from the inevitable fight.

Jenny took a fighting stance out of habit, though she knew she was already at a severe disadvantage against Vexus: aside from the weakening effects of her pregnancy, Jenny's hair-foils had been removed for the purpose of her Halloween costume, which left her flightless.

Vexus stalked eagerly towards Jenny, unsheathing her claws with the slick sound of metal sliding over metal.

For the first time since she had first started being a superhero, Jenny felt_ afraid_. Not for herself, but for the growing life inside of her that would never get to be born if Jenny was destroyed. Though she didn't say as much, it really** was** a bad time. Vexus could hardly have picked a more vulnerable moment if she'd tried.

A large, robot hand seized Vexus by the shoulder, halting her in her tracks. "Don't you know it isn't polite to attack an expectant mother?" challenged Sheldon, turning Vexus to face him and landing a punch clean across her jaw with his free hand.

The attack caught Vexus by surprise and made her stagger back in pain, but although Silver Shell had titanic strength, in terms of physical combat Sheldon was really still a rookie.

"Whelp!" spat Vexus in annoyance, her eyes glowing. Giving her fury physical form, it burned outward from her eyes in a beam of concussive force that struck Silver Shell full in the chest and sent him sailing through the air, finally landing against a wall with a crash that shook the foundations of the house.

Returning her attention to her real enemy, Vexus charged, extending her talons ahead of her in a mad effort to sink them into Jenny's metallic flesh.

Though it took a great deal more effort thanks to the added weight of her unborn child, Jenny rolled backwards onto her back, ducking beneath Vexus' attack even as she kicked upwards with both legs, jabbing the point of her toes into Vexus' slender midsection and eliciting a grunt of pain from her target.

Even so, Vexus continued to press downward at Jenny, snarling in rage and grasping for her victim's throat with claws that glowed with reflected candlelight. Barely able to catch Vexus' wrists in her hands before being throttled, Jenny had to use all of her available strength to keep the Queen's deadly grasp from her throat.

"..erk... I could... use a little... help here, mom." Jenny strained, her voice coming in gasps. Rushing to her daughter's aid, Mrs. Wakeman grabbed the first serviceable weapon she could find, and... smashed a pumpkin over Vexus' head.

Unable to see, Vexus howled in frustration, a sound made all the more frightening by the unnatural expression of the jack-o-lantern substituting for her real face. While her attacker clawed at the mass of vegetable matter surrounding her head, Jenny seized her opportunity and slammed a punch right into Vexus' midsection, followed by a backhand across her head that finally managed to get her opponent off of her.

Nora extended a hand to help her daughter up, simultaneously admonishing her as well. "XJ-9, you're in too delicate a condition for a fight like this. We can let Sheldon handle it, or the Skyway patrol, or even call Misty, that superhero friend of yours."

While she appreciated her mother's concern, Jenny knew it was really Nora and Tuck, and the other humans who were in more imminent danger from the fight. One stray laser or loose chunk of masonry would be all that was needed to end any one of their lives. Besides, of her mother's suggestions, only Misty really had a hope of winning a fight against Vexus, but even then, they had no way of getting in touch with her right now. Jenny knew that if Vexus was to be stopped, it would have to be her to do it. But her mother did have a point.

"Sheldon, are you ok?" Jenny called out to him, relieved when she saw him sit up and shake loose some debris. "Good. We need to take this fight outside, and I'm going to need your help."

Wiping her face clean one last time, Vexus opened her eyes and found her vision finally restored. Humiliated with dead fruit; one more crime against her that she would make Jenny pay for! Vexus readied herself, and quickly scanned the room for her opponent...

...and found Jenny rushing towards her, her right hand replaced with an over-sized steel fist with spikes protruding from the knuckles.

"Hiiii-yah!" shouted Jenny as a battle cry, followed by the resounding _Smack!_ of the fist impacting against the full length of Vexus' lithe body. Hit with enough force to flatten a truck, Vexus was knocked backwards through the air and straight through the exterior wall of Prima's mansion, leaving a circular hole as large as a person.

"I've got to follow her and finish this while she's still in an unpopulated area." Jenny explained to her mother, her right hand returning to it's normal size. Jenny reached down to her skirt and tore it off at the thigh, to prevent it from hindering her movements.

"Sorry," she offered to Sheldon, who winced at the destruction of the costume he had prepared for her.

"No no, I understand. I'll take my costume off too." he replied, getting to work taking off the extra arms of his costume, which was a little bit more complicated then Jenny's had been. "I'll follow you in ten seconds, I just... gotta... (grunt)... almost..."

Jenny leaned forward to give her mother a hug.

"Be careful Jenny." Nora said with a proud smile, allowing her daughter to chase after the villain. Moments later Jenny disappeared through the hole in the wall, out into the wet, dark world beyond.

"There, done!" exclaimed Sheldon, throwing aside the discarded costume and turning to leave after Jenny. He had taken only a few steps forward when he heard a familiar voice call out from behind him,

"Not so fast, loser."

From outside, another flash of lightning bathed the living room in pale white light, revealing the sinister face of Brittany Crust, and the large, sharp butcher's knife that she held pressed against young Tuck Carbunkle's windpipe.

"Tuck!" shouted Nora and Sheldon in unison, but both stopped when Brit defensively raised the knife higher against Tuck's jugular.

"Ah ah ah... haven't you ever been in a hostage situation before?" taunted Brit, the expression on her face utterly insane, "If either of you try to leave or help Jenny in any way... I'll cut him from ear to ear, I swear it."

The Silver Shell and Jenny's mother stood frozen, watching Brit with looks of horror. They thought she was a monster for doing this, or maybe crazy...

But they didn't know. They didn't know the robotic threat that was poised to consume the Earth if Jenny wasn't stopped. More then that, these two would probably welcome the idea. Well, all the more reason for going to such... extreme measures then. Brit, with a firm grip on Tuck and keeping the whimpering boy close to her at all times, inched towards the hole in the wall that Vexus' impact had created.

At first, Brit had been afraid of Vexus, as most humans were. But now, in light of the menace of Jenny and her fellow machines, she realized the hope Vexus represented. In the entire world, Vexus was the one robot not created here on Earth, and thus not part of the conspiracy. Vexus was capable of challenging Jenny on her own terms, and might even be able to win. So long as Jenny's fellow machines could be kept from helping her.

Without Jenny, the machines would be without their leader, the Earth would be saved. One little boy's life would be a small price to pay to ensure humankind's survival. But if everything went according to plan, Brit could just maintain this standoff, keep Silver Shell here until Jenny was dead, and then everything would be ok...

Outside, Jenny was running through the rain slicked grass, following the trail to broken trees Vexus had left as she crashed to a stop. Reaching the end of the trail, Jenny skidded to a halt in front of the minor crater that Vexus' landing had left in the mud. Blinking rapidly to clear the rainwater from her eyes, Jenny converted her left arm into her standard use laser rifle while scanning the nearby landscape for signs of her missing enemy.

Overhead, the storm clouds scraped together and sent another twisted fork of lightning through the sky, momentarily blinding Jenny's sensors. Between Jenny's feet the mud shifted and parted, and like a viper coiled to strike, Vexus' arm shot out and struck Jenny's left knee.

Jenny screamed in pain, Vexus' claws tearing into her leg, the strength of her surprise attack having dislocated the joint altogether. Even as Jenny fell backwards into the mud amidst the tentacle-like roots of a toppled tree, Vexus rose up before her, the rainwater and grime running off her body in a miniature mudslide.

Where was Silver Shell to help her out? Stalling for time, Jenny wrapped both arms around the trunk of the tree that had cushioned her fall and swung it at Vexus. The attack was slow, and Vexus pivoted and lashed out with her left hand, her claw shredding the feeble wood into harmless splinters.

"That might have worked on a Cluster planet, you know. Our trees are made of metal." Vexus taunted, raising her voice to be heard over the roaring wind.

Step by step, Jenny's doom approached, as she hurriedly went through the possible weapons that might be able to save her. Heat beam? All her power reserves were rerouted to feed her uterus. Death cannon? Decommissioned to make room for her T.I.T.S. Stun grenades, Electro-claw, Thunderfist... each had been temporarily discarded as the developing XJ1 insider her had continued to expand, taking up more and more space inside her body.

Jenny was running out of options. She would have to improvise.

Sensing victory, Vexus pounced. Jenny swung her good leg upwards, and full fired her landing stabilizer jet, normally only used as she was setting down after a flight.

"Earth has it's own advantages..." Jenny quipped, as Vexus was shot skyward by the powerful blast of air from Jenny's foot. Vexus flipped in the air, eventually coming to a stop as she extended her insect-like wings and tried to stabilizer herself against the driving winds.

Cupping her hands around her mouth and shaping them into a megaphone so she could be heard, Jenny called out "Like our thunderstorms!"

Vexus was confused for a moment, the term "thunderstorm" foreign to her as all cluster worlds were climate-controlled and rainfall was considered a feature of "untamed" planets. Fighting for control in the harsh storm winds, Vexus felt the levels of ambient static electricity begin to rise, and realization suddenly dawned on her.

Folding her wings against her body Vexus dived, desperate to get out of the sky, but it was too late. A magnificent arc of lightning lanced down from the clouds and struck straight into Vexus, her metal body drawing the thunderbolt to her like a magnet. Her entire body glowed from the inside out, flashing an image of her internal circuits and endoskeleton from within her exterior armor, and even above the crack of thunder, Vexus' scream of pain tore through the hills of Tremorton, echoing and reverberating. Jenny had never heard anything like it before, and it chilled her to her inner core.

* * *

"You hear that?" said Nora Wakeman, crafting herself a confident smile even though she certainly didn't feel it.

Brit shifted nervously, moving her eyes from Wakeman to Silver Shell and back again, increasingly paranoid. In her clutches, Tuck was softly crying, afraid for his life. If she just held on a little longer, Everything would be-

"That was Vexus, you know. She's in pain. She's _losing_." asserted Mrs. Wakeman, taking a step forward.

"Stay back!" barked Brit, pressing the knife more firmly against Tuck's throat.

"I want my big brother..." Tuck wept, the knife drawing a trickle of blood where it bit into the side of his neck.

Nora remained calm, her voice even. "Once Vexus has been beaten, Jenny will come back here, and you'll be arrested. If you let Tuck go _now_, you'll face assault charges... maybe you can plead insanity, or claim it was all a Halloween stunt that got out of control. But if you hurt that little boy there will be no going back for you."

"_Think_ about this."

Brit's pulse was racing, sweat dripped from her body, and she was feeling lightheaded all of a sudden. In the distance, the last echoes of Vexus' pained scream were swallowed by the howling winds, and Brit realized her plan was falling apart. Her popularity had failed her, Tiff had failed her, and now Vexus was about to go down in flames as well. What would become of Brit after this?

She would beg the police for forgiveness, knowing that the diabolical machine conspiracy controlled every aspect of the justice system?

No!

Vexus was her last hope, her last shot at redemption, and Brit would see it realized! Shoving Tuck roughly to the ground, Brit breathed "I'm coming, Vexus." and leaped through the hole behind her, disappearing into the raging storm outside.

"Tuck!" shouted Nora, dashing forward and scooping up the young boy in her arms, cradling him against her chest like a lost child.

* * *

Grimacing from the pain of her injured knee and the strain on her overworked body, Jenny limped awkwardly to the location she had seen Vexus fall to. Jenny cautiously approached with her net-catapult weapon at the ready, the seemingly inert body of Vexus sizzling with heat, each drop of rain that fell on her instantly evaporating into a minuscule puff of steam.

Pushing away broken branches and foliage, Jenny moved in for a closer look, not trusting for a second that the lightning had been enough to finish Vexus off. Her suspicion was confirmed a split second later as her fallen foe's eyes snapped open, and her left arm shot out, catching Jenny with a hook to the underside of her chin. As Jenny stumbled backwards Vexus pushed herself upright, growling.

"You think that will stop **me**?" screeched Vexus, her voice hoarse and her coloring blackened in random patches around her body. Another punch caught Jenny across the right side of her jaw, causing pain to blossom throughout her entire face. Reeling, Jenny activated one of her few remaining weapons, dubbed _Mighty Mallet_, and brandished it defensively.

With the momentary reprieve it afforded her, Jenny tried to move her jaw and felt a brittle _crunch_ inside her mouth. Turning her head to the side, she spit out the fragments of several shattered language disks housed in her oral drive. _So much for Latin and French_ she thought with grim humor.

Her lungs burning and her vision blurred by the pounding sheets of rain, Brit stumbled her way through the forest in her desperate search for her savior Vexus. The battle was not hard to locate; the sounds of clashing metal could be heard even through the storm, and there was a rough trail of destruction left wherever the fight moved.

Hiding behind one of the few trees still standing, Brit was delighted to see Jenny losing. As she watched, Vexus grabbed hold of Jenny's over-sized hammer and ripped it loose of it's moorings, forcing Jenny to return her hand to it's default setting.

Brit's heart soared; at last, vindication! She understood now why she had so admired Vexus upon first meeting her. Deadly, precise, imperial: Vexus was everything that Brit had ever aspired to become. By identifying herself with the Cluster Queen, it was like Brit was watching her greatest fantasy come to life.

Having beaten her way through the last of Jenny's defenses, Vexus stomped forward and seized the younger robot girl by the shoulders. Jenny struggled as best as she could, but she was drained, and injured, and simply didn't have the strength to fight back anymore.

Vexus leaned in close, her chest mashing uncomfortably against Jenny's busom, her face close enough that Jenny could hear her even though she was speaking in a soft whisper.

"There's someone else out here with us tonight... " Vexus breathed to her, "can you smell it? It's _Death._ The Great Disassembler. Your expiration date has come up, you foolish little robot girl."

Without warning, Jenny swung her forehead forward, smashing it against Vexus' face, producing a large crack from the inner corner of her eye down the side of her cheek, and shattering one eye completely.

"Ahhg!" roared Vexus in pain, reeling backwards but still maintaining her grip on the captive Jenny.

"You ungrateful little scrap! All I've ever tried to do is be nice to you, to give you a home, to be the proper mother you never had! And you constantly spat it back in my face! You've taken away everything that ever had any meaning to me... my empire, my home, my own children!" Vexus was screaming now, ranting. Her claws dug into Jenny's shoulders, carving their way past her armored skin and digging into the servos within. Jenny writhed in pain, groaning.

Vexus sneered, getting an idea. "Well I'm going to destroy what _you_ love... I'm going to kill _your_ family. And I'll start with the little hellspawn in your womb!"

Jenny saw it happen in slow motion from that point on. Vexus' hand raised back, brandishing her claws to the stormy night sky. Another flash of lightning somewhere distant. Then the claw swung low, moving too fast to follow with the eye, and stabbed into Jenny's pregnant abdomen.

Jenny's mouth opened wide as if to say something, or scream, but no sound emerged. The claw gripped uncomfortably, the palm resting against Jenny's belly-bolt, and Jenny felt a splash of her internal fluids leak from the wound down to her legs.

Looking from the hideous claw back up to Vexus' evilly grinning face, Jenny felt something inside her programming... shut off.

Something else, darker, took it's place.

"Eeeiiiaaahhhh!" shrieked Vexus as she was violently seized by the neck and waist. Jenny lifted her over her head, the clawed arm that had injured Jenny tearing and coming loose out of Vexus' shoulder socket, the claws still clinging to the wound they had inflicted. With a mighty heave Jenny launched the screaming queen with both arms towards a nearby tree, an artificial crack of thunder signifying that Vexus had briefly been moving faster then sound.

With a strain Jenny pried the disembodied arm from her flesh, letting it drop limply to the wet soil.

Walking slowly but determinedly to the fallen form of Vexus, Jenny discovered that she had been stopped by a particularly large oak.

Vexus had been wrapped around it like a crashed automobile, her spine twisted and crushed around the trunk of the tree, apparently paralyzed from the waist down. Jenny stomped down with her good leg onto Vexus' ruined midsection and grabbed her by the neck.

With a shriek of tearing metal, Jenny wrenched Vexus from her lower half, her dismembered torso draining precious fluids onto the ground at an alarming rate. Vexus' one remaining hand clawed feebly at Jenny's wrist, struggling to remove the hand from around her throat.

"All I wanted... (gurgle) ... was a daughter I could love..." she rasped, her mouth drooling viscous black liquid onto Jenny's hand.

"I could... (gasp) ...have been a great (gurgle) ..._mother_ to you."

Frowning with unutterable loathing for the creature she held in her left hand, Jenny pulled back her right and balled it into a fist.

"**You** don't know the **meaning** of the word!" she screamed, and struck. Vexus' face collapsed under the titanic might of the blow, the remains of her skull cleaving off from her neck and sent hurtling off to land somewhere in the mud.

The body shook, and went limp.

Jenny dropped it to the ground and turned, limping a few unsteady steps in the direction of the mansion before falling to her knees. Clutching her abdomen in pain, Jenny winced and sobbed out loud.

Pulling her hands away from the wound, she gazed at her palms, stained with the dark syrup of oils and electrolytes that flowed through her body, sustaining her life and nourishing her baby.

"_help me._" she said quietly, unable to find her voice.

"**HELP ME!" **now a scream of desperation, tears flowing freely from her eyes and mixing with the unending downpour of rain.

Brit watched from her hiding place, intensely conflicted. Jenny had just killed her last hope. Killed her, snuffed her out. She blinked tears back from her eyes, trying to replace her hopelessness with rage.

She was sure that she hated Jenny more then anyone had hated anything since language had first been invented to describe the emotion. Twisting the knife in her grip, Brit wondered if it would be possible to rush out there, catch Jenny by surprise and weakened, and just...

"Jenny!" called out Sheldon, his huge mass barging through the trees and knocking them over heedlessly. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, Jenny I'm here, I'm here baby, I..." Sheldon froze when he saw Jenny, as she held up her palms and the vital fluids they were covered in.

Without saying another word, Silver Shell scooped up his girlfriend in his massive arms and sprinted back to the mansion, activating his flight systems to boost his speed. The entire route back was marked by an unbroken trench dug by his afterburners and dotted with occasional fires that lingered even in the heavy rain. A single swat of his fist collapsed a section of the wall into the living room, where Sheldon gently deposited Jenny in front of her creator and mother, Nora Wakeman.

"Mom..." choked Jenny, fighting back sobs, "I think something might be wrong with the baby."

* * *

Amidst the gloom and dankness of the early morning after the thunderstorm, Brit toiled ceaselessly. It had taken her an entire night of wading through shin deep muck in the woods outside of Don Prima's house, but she thought she'd just about gotten everything. She estimated maybe 80 of the scattered, ruined parts of Vexus' corpse were now collected into the mud-soaked sack she carried on her back, which probably weighed more then Brit did.

Satisfied she had done all she could, Brit stole off, headed for the slums of Tremorton. She only hoped she could remain unrecognized until she found someplace to hide out, had a chance to think. Pausing for a moment to collect herself, Brit reached into her sack and pulled out the remains of Vexus' metallic skull, one fragment of her face still clinging to the front.

Holding it aloft like Hamlet held the skull of his old friend Yorick, Brit stared into the one undamaged eye that remained.

"You're still my key to victory, Vexus." she smiled, feeling optimistic for the first time in what felt like ages, "You'll have your adopted daughter... I promise it."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Are you sure this is the place?" Brit Crust asked aloud, keeping her voice to a sharp whisper in an effort to remain unnoticed.

She froze, hesitating before knocking at the imposing metal door in the side of the dank alley she stood in. Reaching into her pocket, Brit pulled out a scrap of paper and double checked the address written down on it. Aside from the distant city sounds that filtered in from the alley's mouth, only silence responded to Brit's question.

Reading the name stenciled onto the door Brit confirmed she had indeed reached her destination; "Phineas Mog: Electronics design and repair".

It had been quite an effort to track down and reach the _second_ foremost robotics expert in Tremorton. Harder still to do it while on the run from the law. Brit had not slept or rested for even a moment since the incident the night before, and she was desperately weak and tired. If she couldn't find help soon, she would be completely beyond hope.

Still, Brit did not knock.

Stepping backwards, deeper into the shadows, Brit reached into the bundle that she carried on her back and pulled out a grotesque metallic skull. Anyone could see this skull was never meant to resemble a human skull however, it's eyes were too wide and slanted, it's mandible thin and sporting jagged fangs, and it lacked a nose altogether. Despite it's fearsome appearance, Brit Crust cradled it as delicately as a newborn baby, asking it "Vexus, how do you know we can trust him?"

"I suppose you'll just have to take that risk." came a disembodied voice from immediately above and behind Brit.

Brit gasped and spun around, nearly toppling herself over in the process. "Oh, don't be alarmed" said the kindly male voice that issued from a speaker mounted into the wall. As Brit gathered herself, she spotted several cameras mounted on thin robotic arms extending from their hiding places amidst the detritus of the alleyway. One such camera _whirred_ as it moved in for a closer inspection, the lenses rotating to get a better focus on Brit's worried face.

The speaker crackled to life again, offering "I've been expecting you, Ms. Crust. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable." With that, the side entrance to Mog's lab unlocked itself and swung open, inviting Brit into the gloomy interior beyond.

After cautiously entering and scoping out Mog's lab, Brit was indeed impressed. The good doctor kept an orderly and efficient workspace amidst the outer chaos and decrepitude of the slums the lab was located in. Eagerly accepting Mog's offer of drinks and snacks, Brit reflected on her surroundings as she hungrily scarfed down her food. Despite all the advanced machinery visible, the workspace still seemed somehow empty, as though the building had been intended for more occupants then just the small, elderly Mog. Once her host was seated opposite her, Brit began.

"I've come to you for help. I need your expertise with robotics ...and your silence."

"Yes, I've seen the news reports. The media is making you out to be some kind of real-life movie teen-slasher. As soon as Skyway Patrol gets its head out of its bureaucratic ass, You won't have a safe place to hide in this entire state! What makes you think _I_ can help you?" Mog asked her with a smug expression. He seemingly held all the cards right now, Brit's future entrusted entirely in his hands. The desperate teen girl knew that he **could** help her, the real question is if he would or not.

Time to show Mog what she brought to the table.

Dropping her satchel onto Mog's coffee table with a heavy _thud_, Brit pulled back the covering to reveal the discorporated metal skeleton that was once the proud Cluster queen.

"Is that...?" Mog gasped, reflexively leaning forward for a better look.

Brit pulled to pile of parts back away from him, clutching them defensively. His mouth practically watering at the prospect of learning the secrets of an advanced alien technology, Mog reached for his checkbook and hastily offered "How much do you want for it all? I don't have much to spare since my government contracts dried up, but I could probably sell some of my old surplus and..."

Brit cut him off sharply "She's not for sale."

Seeing Mog's confused look, Brit explained herself. "I want you to bring her back to life."

Carefully taking the collection of Vexus scraps from Brit and spreading them out over the table, Mog took a cursory inspection. "I don't think it's possible. There's simply not enough here to work with... I'd estimate maybe... of her original parts are either missing or too badly damaged to be of any use."

Brit frowned, displeased. "There must be **something** you can do. Vexus is the only chance I have of finally defeating Wakeman's horrible robot."

"XJ-9, you mean?" asked Mog, his interest suddenly piqued.

Brit sensed the shift in his attitude, and pressed for details, hoping to find an angle she could exploit. "That's right... 'Jenny', it calls itself. You know of it?"

Mog frowned deeply, issuing a gruff snort to show his contempt. "It is a long story, but... suffice it to say, XJ-9 is the reason that my son YK-9... Kenny... is missing. If your goal is to take down XJ-9, then... I'll see what I can do to help you."

* * *

Setting her head back, exhausted, Jenny mused aloud "I am _so_ glad I don't have to do any superheroing today."

Setting her hands gingerly against the wound on her swollen, pregnant abdomen Jenny lightly touched the "bandages" that had been patched over the rents in her metallic skin. Laying at a 45 degree angle on her diagnostic table in her mother's lab, Jenny was functioning on her last power reserves, and desperately wanted to shut down so she could recharge.

Her mother, Nora Wakeman, wiped her hands clean with an oil-stained rag, sighed wearily, and prepared to deliver her news to Jenny. It had been an extremely tiring night for the both of them, as Dr. Wakeman had immediately gone to work on her injured daughter as soon as Silver Shell had flown them both back to Wakeman's lab. Poor Sheldon had fretted and fussed about, trying to find anything he could do to help, until Nora had been forced to send him home just to get him out of her hair. Since then Nora had not allowed herself a moment's rest until she knew she had done everything she could for her robotic daughter and her unborn grandchild. Now, hours later, the effort was clearly taking a heavy toll on the old woman's constitution. Regarding her creator with sympathy, Jenny gave her a brief hug as thanks and awaited her diagnosis.

"Well, the good news is that your baby is still functioning, and didn't sustain any real damage from the attack. However, **you** didn't fare as well; your reproductive assembly system took a heavy hit, and even worse is that your birthing cap is completely fused to your umbilical power junctions." Nora leaned back against the wall, throwing the rag against the ground in resignation.

"Uhhh..." was Jenny's only response, confused by all the technical jargon.

Expecting as much, Jenny's mother continued with her explanation "What that means for you is that the XJ1 will continue to be assembled, so long as your internal systems don't encounter an error as a result of the damage they sustained. When they do, your baby will be expelled from your system, whether it's ready for the outside world or not."

Just to confirm this, Jenny checked her internal clock and saw that the 'estimated time to completion' had indeed changed from a steady countdown to an 'unable to determine' message. "So... you can't just fix it?" she asked, already expecting a 'no' but wanting to hear her mother's explanation for it anyway.

"I could, but not without killing the XJ1 inside. If I try to access it directly, I'll cut off the power supply to the nanites that are building its brain and they're not sophisticated enough to be able to resume their task after an interruption. And, once the brain is finished being built, it needs to be constantly shielded from the outside world's various sources of electromagnetic interference. If I open you up at that point, your baby's mind could end up being programmed by the local radio station, or a solar flare."

Before Jenny could comment, Nora continued. "One last problem is that your birthing cap, as I said before, is fused. Normally at the end of the pregnancy your midsection would open, the XJ1 deposited gently onto the floor in front of you, and you would return to your former shape. Quick, easy, painless."

"But now... well, I haven't yet determined an alternative method of getting the baby _out_ of you when it's ready. I'll need some more time to work out a solution. For now, Jenny dear, your mother desperately needs some sleep."

"Okay mom. And thanks." Jenny said, quite sleepy herself. Nora plugged Jenny into a wall outlet so she could recharge as she slept, and paused to kiss Jenny's forehead before pulling up a tarp for Jenny to use as a blanket, tucking her teenage daughter in for a long rest. Pausing at the lab's doorway to hit the light switch, Nora heard Jenny call out "Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"Do... do you think I'll make a good mother?" Jenny asked timidly. The question had been sitting in the back of her mind for almost as long as she'd been pregnant. Only now, in light of the recent brush with death both she and her child experienced, Jenny could not ignore it any longer.

What kind of mother would endanger her baby so recklessly? Perhaps she really was too young still. She shouldn't be trusted with a baby if she couldn't even be counted on to keep _herself_ safe.

Leaning against the door frame, Nora removed her eyeglasses and carefully cleaned them on the front of her lab coat. "I don't know Jenny. But, you've done an excellent job of being a superhero, and a teenager, neither of which are easy jobs. And being the mother of a young robot will be tougher then either of those... trust me, I know."

"But speaking as someone who's been in your shoes, and watched her creation develop from a blueprint into the young lady you are today... the rewards are worth the risk."

Jenny seemed to think about this, looking down at her belly, unsure.

"Goodnight sweetie." murmured Nora, turning off the lights as she left. Jenny closed her eyes, silently wondering if there were any machine Gods she could offer up a prayer to. Seconds later Jenny's sleep mode automatically engaged, sending her into a deep, dreamless slumber.

* * *

Shivering from the touch of the cold lab table against her bare skin, Brit forced herself to take calm, even breaths to combat the growing sense of dread she felt. Brit had never liked hospitals, surgery even less so, and being about to undergo an extensive, dangerous procedure in some out of the way "lab" was a scene out of a nightmare. But it was all for the good of her cause.

If Brit had to sacrifice her life so that Vexus could have another opportunity to kill XJ-9, then she would gladly give it. Clenching her jaw to cease the chattering of her teeth, Brit mentally readied herself by repeating to herself all that Mog had told her.

After a lengthy discussion of their options, Mog had moved the conversation to the recent advances he'd made in translating human and machine thought patterns. The innovations, he'd claimed, were inspired by a process Dr. Wakeman had originally proposed that would allow a human mind to be transferred wholesale into an electronic brain.

By "inspired by", Brit assumed he meant "stolen from". Phineas Mog had something of a reputation of riding Nora Wakeman's coattails to scientific achievement. Still, it was Brit's best hope of resurrecting Vexus, at least in part. Because a large part of Vexus' remains were missing, Mog would never be able to completely restore the fallen queen. Instead, they were forced to find a substitute, something that the Cluster technology could be built onto, and merged with. Thus providing an underlying support structure, the mortar that would hold Vexus' pieces together again. After some heated debate and a hefty bribe, Brit and Mog had settled on grafting Vexus' corpse onto a human subject.

Now, Brit awaited the surgery that would merge her with her new idol. Would she inherit Vexus' superhuman strength and abilities? Would she wear her parts like an armor? Or might Vexus' inert mind manage to overcome Brit's own will, and wear her body like a hand wears a glove? Brit glanced to her left, seeing the dead remains of the queen arranged like some anthropological study, ready to be grafted and implanted into her delicate flesh and bone body.

She hated feeling vulnerable like this, and it wasn't helped by her state of undress. To prepare for the surgery, Brit had purchased a trim black two-piece bikini that left very little to the imagination. It was one of the first purchases of clothing Brit had ever made where function was more important than fashion: to complete the surgery, Mog would need to cut into just about every inch of her flesh. Still, even after all she had been through, Brit maintained just enough pride to want to keep her privates hidden from the gaze of the old man.

"I want to remind you again that this procedure remains completely untested on human subjects." Mog warned, approaching Brit and fixing a breathing mask to her face. "So as a fail-safe I've created a killswitch program that will disable all the connections between your brain and the computer-controlled implants. I'll activate it at the first sign of system shock."

Fiddling with the knobs on a gas canister, the anesthesia began to flow into Brit's lungs as Mog continued speaking. "There is no telling exactly how your brain will react to the insertion of foreign thought patterns. You may not experience anything, or you may live Vexus' entire lifetime in the span of your sleep. Or it could be anything in between."

Feeling extremely lightheaded, Brit's last conscious thought was that her bikini line felt stubbly, and needed shaving, and that that probably meant the hair on her head was finally starting to come back as well. Darkness filler her vision, her eyelids fluttered shut, and Brit was out like a light.

Then, the dreams began.

In her mind, Brittany Crust was in ancient Egypt.

More to the point, she **ruled** Egypt as its Goddess/Queen. As Pharaoh.

It was a dream she had had several times before, a personal favorite. In her dream she controlled a vast empire, with countless slaves to appease her every whim, and the praises of the people accompanying every action she took. And unlike the real world, here Brit's beauty was eternal and infinite.

The dream of Egypt was not necessarily at all historically accurate... here, fact and fantasy mixed freely as Brittany wished them to. Here, gold bricked pyramids capped with pure jade dotted the landscape. The night sky was a rich purple, and no camels existed; only beautiful, Arabian stallions.

But something was different this time. Her empire was in shambles, her subjects had deserted her. Some strange plague had come to her lands, and wiped out all but herself. The soft white sands had turned a dull gray, which made the silver moonlight seem to bathe a sea of iron. Standing on a high balcony overlooking all that was hers, Brit was utterly alone, the last survivor of a dead kingdom.

Only the breeze and the moon kept her company. As she breathed the cool night air, a lone insect fluttered up and landed on her outstretched fingertip. Brit brought it to her face to see it better; a large green wasp, with unusually large front legs... or was it a golden mantis? She never had been very good at science.

A quick flick of her wrist sent it on it's way. Turning away from the desolation below, Brit walked into the inner chambers of her palace, which would someday be her tomb as it had been for all her ancestors. Perhaps in here she might find the guidance she craved.

Entering the burial chamber, Brit saw row upon row of jeweled sarcophagi standing erect against the walls, each containing a once mighty ruler, who had each contributed to the royal bloodline that had spawned her, Brittany, the last scion of the Crust dynasty. Only the dead occupied this space, but Brit still found their presence oddly comforting.

Stopping to inspect one at random, Brit ran her fingertips over the surface of the sarcophagus, feeling the smoothness of the sleek gray metal the ceremonial deathmask was carved from. Something about the sarcophagus bothered Brit, something was out of place... but what was it? She trailed her hand up past the face, to the golden antenna-like crown that held the sun-disk, the symbol of the Crust royal house, in place above the head. Was it the sarcophagus' hooked mandibles? Its sharp, slanted eyes? The two pairs of arms folded across the chest, holding a crook, a flail, a sword, and a scepter? The disturbing quality escaped Brit's attempt to pinpoint it when a shuffling sound came from behind her.

Turning, Brit's eyes searched the shadows for any sign of movement. "Who's there? Your Pharaoh demands that you show yourself!" commanded Brit, her voice strong and her posture fierce.

The shadows laughed.

"You are a haughty young thing, aren't you?" came the echoes of a deep female voice, followed by a vague buzzing sound, like the trill of a cicada.

"You would mock me, you who are no more substantial then a phantom in the darkness? Come speak to me when you have something important to say, instead of idle chatter" tittered Brit.

The dark voice came again, closer this time, "I like your venom, girl." the sound of insect wings intensified, until it seemed as though the room was filled by a host of unseen locusts, surrounding Brit.

The echoes came from above, saying "And I like your arrogance too."

Suddenly Brit felt something cold and sharp scrape the back of her head. Bolting, she was seized by strong, nimble hands and held in place, unable to turn to face her assailant. Soft, artificial lips hovered just beside Brit's ear, and whispered words so sweetly they dripped like honey into Brit's mind. "I can make us powerful again. Give us dominion over this entire pitiful planet. I'll rebuild the Cluster, with this world as the first stepping stone towards the glory that is rightfully ours."

"Vexus." Brit breathed, recognizing the robotic tyrant's presence.

"Yesss..." Vexus hissed, extending a slim, moist tongue into Brit's ear and stroking it against the sensitive, unprotected flesh there.

Still, Brittany Crust was not so easily manipulated. "What's in it for me, if I help you?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Brit felt Vexus' hands change from a gentle massage to a sharp pain as the tips of her talons dug into Brit's shoulders.

Vexus did not **like** being resisted.

But even as the blood trickling down her back turned cold and dripped past the small of her back, Brit remained firm, sucking in a breath to keep from crying out. The claws pulled themselves from Brit's flesh, circled around to her front, and pulled her tightly into Vexus' embrace. The breath of the older female was on the back of Brit's neck now, and Brit felt the strange heat of Vexus' body radiate past the coldness of her armor, the odd combination of a machine's unyielding metal form with the supple give of a living being. The sensation of Vexus' wet tongue came again, this time lapping at Brit's superficial injuries, cleaning and devouring the spilled blood from her shoulders. The licks turned to kisses as they traveled from Brit's shoulder to her neck, Vexus' casual strength pushing Brit's head to the side until the dead queen's mouth rested atop Brit's jugular vein. A brief, light scraping of her fangs across Brit's throat sent a clear message.

"You would have power through me, as I said before. Through my strength you would have your revenge against XJ-9... you could return the humiliation you experienced a hundredfold." purred Vexus.

Brit could tell Vexus' face was directly against her cheek, but she refused to turn to look, instead keeping her gaze locked straight forward. "And you would be loved. A true queen is always loved by her subjects so long as she rules well." Lowering her gaze, Brit saw Vexus' hands on her chest, her left placed directly over her heart. With both hands, she reached for Vexus' and took hold, keeping it pressed tightly against her. Still, she refused to meet Vexus's eyes.

Then, Vexus leaned in impossibly closer, the droning buzz fading into silence, and Vexus' voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. With utmost seriousness, she promised "_You'll __**never**__ be alone again_."

"What do you need me to do?" asked Brit, turning to face Vexus andchallenging her stare with her own, equally intense. Vexus grinned, her gleaming fangs expressing equal parts pleasure and menace.

Brit could see she had been correct in her earlier statement: only dead things occupied this room. Vexus, though whole, was a shadow of herself... her colors faded, her eyes dimmed.

"You must accept me as your true mother, forsaking all others. You have no family but me, for I am all the family you will ever require. You must accept me into your heart, your mind, your _soul_."

Almost before the sentence finished Brit had thrown her arms around Vexus' neck, holding on for dear life and softly, faintly weeping against Vexus' cold shoulder. A soul? What a trifle, a pittance to ask in exchange for true, never-ending love.

A whisper, almost a sob, escaped Brit's lips. "Mother." she said, and the pact was forever sealed.

"There there my child." comforted Vexus, patting Brit on the back and gently rocking her in her arms. The softly crying teen felt Vexus' slim fingers comb through her hair. Her long, black, flowing hair. Brit would once again be beautiful, and popular, and powerful.

"That's right," responded Vexus, seemingly reading Brit's thoughts, "and I will always be there to protect you."

"I love you mommy." said Brit, her tears drying and her sobs being choked back. A proud parental smile crossed Vexus' face as she wiped Brit's eyes clean.

"Mommy loves you too darling." she replied, expressing genuine emotion. "I know you've been sad, but Momma Vexus is here to make it all better now. Here," she said, reaching a hand up and peeling off the front piece of her chest plate, allowing her heavy breasts to spill out of her armor. "Just take a nice deep drink and I promise everything will be ok."

Without hesitation, Brit bent down and captured one dark nipple in her mouth. Really, it seemed to Brit like the most natural thing in the world to do, some long hidden instinct in her that took over without any conscious effort. Licking the nipple brought it to a full half inch erect, and a few moments of sucking was all it took to get the flow of milk started.

"Drinnnkkkk..." Vexus hissed, one hand delicately cradling Brit's head to her bosom, the other idly stroking her remaining nipple, bringing it to a similar hardness. As soon as Vexus' nectar entered Brit's mouth, she knew it was no natural mother's milk. This was a toxin, some potent chemical intended for a newborn robot to fuel its engines and grease its gears, not a product for human consumption. The rich fluid was both sweet and bitter at the same time, as though someone had melted black liquorice and toffee and motor oil together, kept it at body temperature inside Vexus' tits, and was now pouring it down Brit's throat. The dark mixture burned on it's way down to Brit's stomach, and almost instantly numbed her entire abdomen. She was drinking pure poison, Brit Crust knew, but she continued to suckle hungrily at Vexus' swollen teat, desperate for more of the toxic stuff. Some craving deep inside her forced her to keep going, swallowing more and more of the lethal breast milk, while Vexus cooed softly to her.

"You will be my favorite. You will not disappoint me as your siblings did." Vexus praised to her new daughter. Wetting her fingertip with warm milk that had dribbled from her unused tit, Vexus traced onto Brit's forehead the pattern of the tuning-fork antennas that all Cluster nobility wore as their symbol of office.

"You shall be my princess, and then, Queen." she mused to Brit, who seemed oblivious in the face of her overwhelming thirst. It took virtually no effort at all for Vexus to shred Brit's simple sheer clothing, letting the naked Tremortonian girl cling to her torso for warmth. Getting her own armor off took a bit more work, but by the time Brit had switched to feeding from her remaining breast, Vexus was equally naked. For a short while she simply enjoyed the feeling of their soft, naked bodies pressed tightly together, mother and daughter.

Eventually Brit lifted her head from Vexus' heaving breasts, her thirst finally quenched when she licked her black-stained lips clean. "I can't feel my legs" Brit complained weakly, Vexus catching her in her arms when her balance gave out.

"You won't need them, precious." soothed Vexus, taking Brit's hand in hers and leading it downward, "Feel this instead." As her palm touched the soft lips of Vexus' womanhood, Brit found her fingers gaining a life of their own, crawling over and stroking Vexus' hot center. Spreading apart the wet lips Brit found the entrance to Vexus' vagina, and tentatively pushed a finger inside.

"That's good... deeper, don't be afraid... finger-fuck mommy... mmmm" Vexus sighed happily.

Encouraged, Brit slipped more of her fingers into Vexus' now dripping pussy. By working them back and forth, Brit found she could gradually work more and more of her hand inside her adoptive mother's tight cunt, until she slipped her entire slender hand in and pushed in up to the wrist... and felt something push back.

Hearing Vexus moan, Brit grasped the unknown object in her palm, and felt it give slack when she pulled on it. Withdrawing her hand, Brit pulled forth a long, hose-like appendage about as wide around as a quarter. Unsure quite what to make of this, Brit noted that the tube was warm to the touch, glistened with Vexus' juices, and seemed to throb in time to her own heartbeat. Taking a guess she raised the silvery phallic object to her groin, and rubbed its tip against her hairless pussy lips to prepare herself to accept it into her.

"Ah ah, plenty of time for that later. _This_ goes _here_..." guided Vexus, taking the metal tube from Brit and raising it to the teenager's navel, nuzzling the rounded end of it against Brit's taught stomach.

"Just to warn you, it'll hurt a bit when I pop your cherry." advised Vexus, thoroughly confusing Brit.

The rounded tip of the hose extended a pointed probe into Brit's navel, and in the midst of asking what Vexus was talking about, Brit shrieked as the dead queen suddenly thrust the point forward, puncturing through her skin and driving the metal appendage into Brit's midsection.

"Ahh..hhcck..." Brit choked, both hands grasping the tube that extended from her stab wound. "W-what are you doing to me?" Inside her, the piercing head umbrellaed out into a series of barbs that grasped and cut and rearranged Brit's internal organs, making her cry out in intense pain and dropping the poor girl to her knees in front of Vexus.

"Hush, my darling." Vexus soothed, cradling Brit's face against her pubic mound and the tentacle that snaked out of her wet cunt below. " ...I'm only killing you. Everything will be alright, just trust me." And somehow, despite the situation, Brit did trust her. She loved her, even as Vexus' milk poisoned ever cell it seeped into and her umbilical cord siphon away the last remaining vitality from Brit's dying body. With all the remaining strength in her, Brit raised her lips to Vexus' womanhood and gave it a wet kiss, weakly lapping at the queen's aroused sex. Vexus shivered with pleasure, a tingle humming through her pussy and releasing a fresh wave of her cunt cream onto Brit's eager tongue.

"Mmmm, such a little clit-pleaser you are." Vexus praised, scooping Brit up in her arms and holding her aloft. Brit was completely immobilized now; in the unreality of the dream, she knew without looking that her limbs had withered and shrunk to tiny, useless things, her entire body now about the size of a football. "Mommy's very proud of you little one. I see vast things in your future. You shall be a great warrior. A destroyer of worlds."

Brit smiled, and gurgled happily. A tug from her umbilical cord made her wince, and Vexus sat down with her back against the sarcophagus. "It's time to finish this, Brittany." said Vexus in a dark, sing-song voice.

Opening her legs spread-eagled, Vexus took deep measured breaths and closed her eyes, readying herself for some great task. Between her outspread legs, Brit could see the shiny silver cord retracting into the gaping, hungry vagina that swallowed up inch after inch of the metal tentacle, drawing Brit's squirming form inexorably toward it. With one hand Vexus stretched the inner lips of her pussy as wide apart as she could manage, and with the other she worked Brit's tiny, dwarfed feet and legs into her vagina. Moments later Brit felt the first pull from the tight, slick walls of Vexus's birth canal as the queen's inner muscles contracted. The lips of Vexus' snatch advanced to Brit's waist, and Vexus herself helped Brit along by pushing down on her shoulders, forcing more and more of the dying girl up her ravenous pussy.

By the time Brit was engulfed up to her neck, she began to notice that Vexus breathing had quickened and intensified to a labored pace. Indeed, she could feel the pulsing and thrumming of the Cluster monarch's inner machines as they worked to accommodate their new occupant, through the inner membranes of Vexus' body. If she guessed right, it seemed this reversed birth was causing Vexus as much pleasure as a typical birth would cause a woman pain. Cracking open a single eye just enough to keep it free from Vexus' spilling girl-cum, she looked up and saw that Vexus was furiously masturbating her painfully erect clitoris. Her efforts to rub off an orgasm seeming to further propel Brit on her way, as each time a shudder of pleasure blossomed in her privates, a ripple of movement would sweep through her vaginal muscles, squeezing and pulling Brit deeper inside. Finally, with the crown of Brit's head stretching Vexus' cunt to it's limit, the dead queen was on the brink of her climax. Her inner lips spasmed around Brit's tender scalp, and the ragged moans Vexus released with each breath left little doubt she was about to reach a powerful orgasm. Her face submerged, Brit pushed her tongue out against the throbbing inner surface of the queen's snatch, and it was all she could do to manage a few meager strokes with her tiny pink tongue. It was all the push Vexus needed.

"AAAuuuuuuhhhhhhnnnnn..." Vexus howled, her pussy clenching down and slurping up the last remaining portion of her new baby into her body. "A-huh, a-huh, a-hunnnhhh..." Vexus heaved, aftershocks of her orgasm making her body quake. With some difficulty she peered past her suddenly swollen belly to the spot between her legs, where the puddle of warm cum that drooled from her agape pussy served as the only remains of Brittany Crust.

Vexus giggled like a little girl, stroking her hands over her now huge stomach, pregnant with Brit's corpse. It was done. She had the daughter she always wanted, securely tucked away in her womb, as dead as her new mother was.

Here, Brit's dream became murky and indistinct. She felt blind, deaf and submerged in a hot, claustrophobic environment.

As her mind groped for sensation, for meaning, the words "dissolved" and "digested" came to mind, and faded just as quickly.

A memory of tearing out of a chrome cocoon, to emerge new and wet into an unsuspecting world, of stretching out to dry her wings and revel in the beauty of her new body. She remembered the bitter taste of having one's family betray you, and promised it would never happen again.

Foreign memories of worlds circling stars that humans had yet to name seemed clearer and more natural to Brit then the memories of her own childhood. A nagging thought of an appointment that Brit had made to attend the beetle-pipe recital on Cluster-6 confused her; she knew that her general Smytus would be crushed if Brit Crust did not make at least a token appearance, but why should a Cluster general care whether or not a human teenager listened to his music?

Brit made a mental note to have her fangs sharpened when she woke up... it had been a few weeks since she had last gone to the salon, and she feared they might be getting dull.

Amidst the swirling chaos of her dreams and half-thoughts, Brit came to realize the answer to her earlier question: She had subsumed Vexus into herself, on every level.

Matter and energy could not be created nor destroyed... but could souls? Brittany Crust now believed so. Where there had been two before, now there was but one. Brittany had become something that was less then the sum of its parts. She was the Great Dissolver. The living embodiment of Anti-Motherhood.

Something deep inside Brit, in the blackest part of her soul, stirred to life.

_And lo, I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds!_

The alien presence in Brit's soul awoke, took root, spread through her being to every outermost tip.

_Ia! Vexus fhtagn! _

Something horrible, something that was neither Brit nor Vexus but some unholy amalgam of the two, reared up its mighty head in defiance of all that was good and right in the world, and **screamed**.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!"

Brit's eyes shot wide open, the sound of her own fearful shriek having jolted her from her sleep. Was this the real world now? Uncurling herself from a fetal position, Brit sat up on the floor and inspected her surroundings.

She could still feel her pulse racing, making a rushing noise in her ears and a thumping in her chest. The lights in the room seemed overly bright, the colors blurred and muted. She was in Phineas Mog's lab, but everything was a mess; tables and equipment was overturned, computer monitors were smashed to pieces, papers and documents were strewn everywhere. What was going on?

As Brit pulled herself to her feet she felt a stabbing pain set deep in her navel, and fears buried in her subconscious made her fear to look down. Her midsection, just below the rib, was sleek black metal down to her hips, which were framed with a golden-colored metal stretching down the length of her legs and carried her weight as she stood, requiring zero effort on her part. How deep did these robotic parts go? Brit grasped her chest, experiencing a moment of panic when she felt cold metal instead of her familiar perky young tits. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when her searching hands slipped up underneath her breastplate and found her warm human flesh where it was supposed to be, and laid her hand over her thumping heart.

When the _thump_ of her heart was answered by a corresponding _Sliishh_ from two inches down and three over to the right side of her ribcage, Brit withdrew her hands, disturbed.

A flash of realization sent Brit's investigation straight between her legs, pulling aside her bikini bottoms to find her lightly fuzzed pussy had remained just as she'd left it, untouched by the metal insertions that had been implanted everywhere else. "Phewph" Brit said aloud, "That's a relief. I didn't want to have to use a drip pan for a maxi-pad the rest of my life."

All across her body, Brit checked and re-checked herself, usually finding the same results: she was largely encased in Vexus' outer shell, but underneath there was still flesh... and underneath that, more machine, anchored to Brit's skeleton to simultaneously draw and lend support to her still slender, feminine frame. About the only things she couldn't look at were her upper back and her own head, So Brit set about combing the area for a mirror.

Fortunately the rest of Mog's household wasn't in as poor a condition as the lab was. Whatever had caused the destruction there had apparently spared Mog's living quarters. Still, the elderly scientist himself was yet to be seen. Again, Brit found herself asking _what was going on?_

An electronic desk calendar said the day was... December 8th?! How long had she been unconscious? Spotting the central computer in the living room that acted both as Mog's main console and videophone, Brit approached and attempted to gain access. Perhaps there was a message left for her, or something recorded by Mog's ubiquitous cameras. Predictably, it prompted her for a password. "Kenny" she spoke aloud as she typed. Incorrect. "YK9?" Brit guessed. Incorrect again. Brit lifted her gaze and let her eyes stroll the room, looking for clues as her mind skimmed through other ideas for possible passwords, and as she did she failed to notice her right hand rapidly tapping keys.

Spotting a mirror hanging from a wall nearby, Brit momentarily forgot all about her task. She... she was... **beautiful**.

She had **hair** again! Long, flowing hair of jade and gold, one moment appearing as luscious locks of blond and green, the next moment solidifying into a royal headdress, the appointments of a queen.

She had transcended earthly beauty and become a creature of emerald and brass, a living jewel.

She struck a pose for the mirror, putting her left hand behind her head and arching her back to thrust out her tight little bum... and spotted her wings, folded behind her back like the gossamer cape. Overjoyed, Brit let loose a shriek of pure bliss when she discovered that she could make the wings flutter when she wanted, even spread out fully behind her. In time, she knew, she would fly. For now, she would try to find some clue as to this-

Glancing back to the computer terminal, Brit was interrupted in mid-thought to see that while she'd been admiring her new form, her computer-enhanced brain and her right hand had been very busy. Without any direction from her, her hand typed furiously at the keyboard, and before her eyes attempted "Zorrl", "Zorrm", "Zorrn" and finally "Zorro", the last attempt unlocking the uncooperative computer. Cracking the knuckles on her right hand by flexing her fist, yet not feeling at all tired by the tremendous effort just performed, Brit regarded her digits with amused awe.

"Handy." she commented and immediately burst into a fit of high-pitched laughter at her pun.

Everything seemed funny to her right now, as though she were drunk. An idle thought flitted through her mind, and without warning her metal-trimmed fingers extended inch-long deadly talons. She would look forward to trying those out. A second mental shrug returned her claws to their sheaths, and Brit turned to the computer monitor in search of more information.

Hmm. There was the videophone files... once opened, Brittany scanned through the various options, eventually finding "archive". Here we are, a log of recent messages. The most recent was dated two days ago, which Brit set to playback. Instantly, the face of young robot boy who bore a passing resemblance to Jenny appeared, and the message proceeded:

"Hi Dad, it's me, Kenny. I know you're probably worried sick about me, and I'm **really** sorry not to have called until now. But I'm fine, really. Better then fine, even. It's all been pretty busy, and I've been doing everything I can to help Nexus... that's this girl I met... and her friends work out this civil war thing they've got going on in the Cluster. This is the first real breather we've gotten, but things seem to be turning around for us, so I'm sure I'll have more time to call you in the future. There's so much to that's happened! You wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen out here; there are entire planets populated by nothing but robots like me! I can't wait to come back to Earth and tell you all about it. But, for now I'm still needed out here. I knew you'd be upset with me for just taking off like this, but... I'm doing a lot of good out here Pop. If you could see me, I know you'd be proud.

"Oh, and one other thing: could you do me a favor and let XJ-9 know that I'm ok? I know she didn't really want me to stay out here in deep space all by myself, but just tell her not to worry about me, I've made a lot of new friends in the Cluster. Anyway, I'll go into more detail next letter home. Love ya Pop! Peace out!"

That didn't bode well for her. Kenny's disappearance, blamed on Jenny, had been Mog's chief motivation to help Brit in her plans for revenge. Would he try to back out, kill the procedure before it could be completed? Hmm, that recording was received two days ago... Brit accessed the security monitor logs, scanning through the previous two days worth of video footage of the lab where she had been resting.

Resting... resting... Mog came in to check her vital signs... resting... wait, there! Brit slowed the scan to a normal-speed playback, entering mid-recording of ... herself, trashing the lab! As she watched, the audio came through, but it was nothing intelligible. The Brittany Crust in the video was a beast of pure instinct, growling and roaring like an animal, randomly attacking inanimate objects and hurling them around the room.

What had provoked this? Rewinding the tape further back, Brit found the point when Mog first entered the lab...

...carrying the killswitch program. Ahh, there's the answer. As Mog stepped closer and attempted to initiate the program, Brit's body surged to life, knocking him away.

Brit remembered none of this... had Vexus been controlling her actions, defending her?

Shutting off the video, Brit decided she had seen enough. Mog had fled, but couldn't go to the authorities because of the part he had played in Brit's transformation.

Bah, Brit didn't really care where the old man went. She had what she needed from him.

But, over a month had passed since she'd last seen Tremorton. A lot had surely changed, and there was much to do.

And now she had the power to do it.

Stepping out the front door into the cool dark night, Brit took a deep breath and flexed her new wings, testing their strength with a few cursory beats. Then with one mighty heave of her machine-enhanced thighs Brit leaped into the sky, buzzing Vexus' wings... her wings... and soared off to seek her revenge.

Brit's cackling laughter rang out through the night.

_This_, she thought, _will be easy._


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Winter was possibly Jenny's favorite time of year. Especially on a sunny day like this, when the fat snowflakes drifting through the air and piling into fluffy-looking snowbanks along the roads served to cushion the few sounds of traffic to the point where it seemed like the entire town had come to a standstill. The snow also muffled the sounds of feminine laughter emanating from inside Mezmer's, Jenny's favorite hangout.

Inside, Jenny was catching up with Misty over a bite to eat and a drink, and both young ladies were enjoying themselves immensely. Misty was one of the few girls Jenny felt she could really relate to, both as a fellow superhero and teenager. Now that she was back from an extended trip away from Tremorton, Misty was excited to hear all the juicy gossip from her friend Jenny, but she had never expected things would get **this** interesting in her absence.

"I sure wish I'd been around when Vexus attacked you. I'd have whupped her so hard she'd be begging to be disassembled." Misty said, angered that her friend had been so grievously hurt.

Jenny laid a hand on Misty's to calm her down, saying "that's sweet, but I'm doing ok. After Sheldon did a little cosmetic remodeling, you can hardly even tell I was stabbed."

Jenny's pregnant belly did indeed look next to perfect, the bulky metal "bandages" that her mother had riveted onto her now replaced by micro-sealer the same colour as her skin's typical paint-job. "And, so far, so good. The baby was originally due to be born in about 3 weeks from now, so it's looking like maybe the damage wasn't as bad as my mom thought. I might just make it to the full term without anything going wrong."

Sipping her cup of tea, Misty grumbled a little but didn't say anything. Jenny had always been the more optimistic of the two, more willing to look on the bright side of things. But before Misty could continue down that line of conversation, Jenny decided to switch the topic.

"So where have you been all this time? I haven't seen you since mid-summer." she asked, then took a drink from her can of oil as Misty answered.

"Well, originally I was just taking a trip around some of the nearby star-systems, check out any worlds that needed saving, maybe go visit my home planet for the fall fertility festivals... those are some wild parties, let me tell you... but then I received a distress signal when I entered Cluster territory."

Jenny gulped hard, nearly choking on her drink, but didn't say anything about the role she played in that conflict either. Misty raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but continued with her story. "So I investigated, and did what I could to help. First it was just on Cluster Prime, but then a couple of months back it spilled over onto the other Cluster planets, and it was just all so out of control... well, luckily my old teammates Squish and Orion showed up to lend a hand."

"Is everything alright now?" asked Jenny. Misty sighed wearily at the memory of all her hard work.

"Partly. The "old money" on the inner planets is funding Brutus' bid for power, and there's a growing cult on a few of the rim worlds that worship something called "Armagedroid". Fortunately, two of the larger factions have merged, and it's looking like public opinion is swaying in their favor." Misty explained.

Jenny tried to keep from blushing or looking guilty, attempting to deflect suspicion with "Really... I had no idea..." Misty went right on with her explanation, either not perceiving or not caring about Jenny's shift in body language.

"Yeah, the rest of the royal family's heirs joined together, Vega, the younger sister is working out an alliance with the older sister, Nexus. From the sounds of it, Vega is going to continue to rule as the Cluster's regent, while Nexus and her beau become a figurehead King and Queen, ensuring that the royal bloodline continues. Once they're officially married, everyone's expecting the Cluster citizens will rally behind them and the rest will be cake." Misty leaned forward, unable to contain her excitement. "And since I helped their peacekeeping effort, I get an invitation to the wedding! Can you imagine? A real-life princess of an interstellar empire is getting married to her true love... "

Jenny and Misty both sighed dreamily, getting starry-eyed.

"Just like a fairy-tale..." Jenny agreed, far off.

"So, that's what brought me to town, I get to take a "+1" and I figured we needed to spend some quality girl-time together. But..." Misty trailed off, and Jenny knew what she was indicating.

"...I've got a bun in my oven." Jenny finished for her. The_ ding!_ Of an egg-timer sounded from inside Jenny's head, and her chest split open to extrude a freshly-baked cinnamon roll, which Misty accepted with a giggle. Her chest returning to it's usual shape, Jenny added, "_Plus_, I'm pregnant."

"I'm really sorry I can't go with, but with the condition I'm in I need to stay in Tremorton in case I go into labor." Jenny apologized, frowning.

Misty shrugged it off, "Well, maybe I'll see what Brad's up to then. He'd look good in a tux... mmm..." she thought out loud, getting a sly look.

Shaking her head, Jenny corrected her friend. "I'm not positive, but I think Brad's, errm, spoken for. He's been seen around town with Tiffany Crust a lot lately. From the looks of things I'd say they're pretty serious."

Seeing Jenny unhappy, Misty offered a little advice. "Brad's a good guy... I'm sure he wants to make up just as much as you do, he's just letting his pride get the better of him. It's how men are. They're kinda dumb that way. If you take the first step to apologize, I'm sure he'll want to forgive and forget too."

A hopeful look crossed Jenny's features, and she asked "You really think so? Brad and I have been avoiding each other for so long... I'd feel really stupid if I went to apologize and he didn't want to be friends anymore. What if he hasn't forgiven me for... you know..." Jenny blushed, ashamed of her prior actions.

Misty just waved the thought aside, stating firmly "If he's with another girl now then I'd bet he probably isn't still sensitive about it. I find that if you've broken up with a guy, what he's really angry about is that his ex-girlfriend managed to hook up with a new guy before he could hook up with a new girl. Now that you're both in new relationships, he won't feel inferior. Like I said, it's all a pride thing."

Jenny felt Misty might be oversimplifying things a bit, but then again she _did_ know a lot more about dating than Jenny did. Making a mental note of it, Jenny decided that she _would_ go talk to Brad and get things patched up, just as soon as she finished her visit with Misty.

Her spirits perked up by her friend's pep talk, Jenny finished her drink and crunched the tin can flat with one hand, noticing that Misty had finished her meal as well.

"Wanna swing by my place and listen to some music? I've got a great collection of techno..." Jenny suggested, but Misty declined.

"I really am just in town today, the wedding is coming soon and it's not a short trip back. I think I'm just gonna take a quick spin around Tremorton to pick up a few things before I go."

Misty embraced her friend, careful not to put pressure on Jenny's sensitive abdomen. "It was good to see you again. I'll bring back a ton of pictures and tell you all about it, k Jen?"

"You'd better." answered Jenny, exiting the malt-shop and waving goodbye to Misty as the ninja girl took to the air. Jenny turned to head the Brad's house, the pleasant snowy day almost making her glad she'd been forced to walk, her flight systems shut down for the remainder of her pregnancy.

So lost was she in her own thoughts that she failed to see a second figure take off after Misty, darting from the shadows to tail the teen superhero from a safe distance.

After picking up a suitable dress for the wedding, and a gift for the bride and groom (though Misty had to wonder what she could get them that they didn't already have, being royalty. But it was the thought that counts.) Misty was about ready to leave Earth and get started on her journey. A shame about Brad though, Misty had figured he'd eventually hook up with someone nice, but it still left her dateless for the event. Misty supposed she'd ask Orion to be her chaperon, though she hoped he didn't take it to mean she was interested in him. Orion was attractive in his own way, but Misty would never-

From below, in the streets of Tremorton, Misty heard a cry for help. Something about the voice sounded familiar to her, though she couldn't quite place it. "Looks like it's time to do the superhero thing..." Misty said reluctantly.

Streaking down from the sky leaving a faint pinkish contrail behind her, Misty investigated the source of the scream. "Hello? I've come to help... where are you?" Misty called out, the increasingly heavy snowfall obscuring her vision.

"Over here..." came a weak voice, leading Misty in the right direction.

There, Misty spotted her, a girl was trapped under a snowbank, with everything below her waist submerged. It didn't look heavy enough to actually pin the girl, but... wait a sec, Misty knew her! That was Brit Crust, one of the high-schoolers that had tormented Jenny and herself during Misty'd brief enrollment at Tremorton high.

"Ninja-girl, it's you!" called Brit, her voice shaking from the cold. Though she still held a faint grudge, Misty bit it back and reached down to take Brit by the arm, effortlessly lifting the girl out from under the snow drift. Something wasn't adding up here.

"Brit, what were you doing in the snow... wh... are you wearing a bikini?!"

Brit just grinned evilly, and grabbed Misty by the wrist. Misty tried to shake her off, but Brit's grip was strong... entirely **too** strong for any normal teenage girl.

Her martial arts training kicking in Misty performed a lightning-fast side kick, hitting Brit in a nerve cluster in her elbow, releasing Misty's arm. Now with both arms free and Brit still clearly hostile, Misty unleashed a flurry of blows against Brit's upper body. Nothing strong enough to kill, but each strike normally enough to incapacitate a typical human. Brit reeled, snarling in pain or frustration, while Misty assumed a fighting stance and took stock of the situation.

"What's happened to you Brit? Is this some kinda weird prank again? I thought we stopped all that when I got expelled."

Brit issued a short, mocking laugh. The punch Misty had delivered to her solar plexus should have been enough to make Brit choke on her own vomit... this wasn't making any sense.

As she watched her opponent, Misty noticed that the snowflakes falling onto Brit's shoulders and back were instantly melting. And _evaporating_, creating a faint waft of steam around Brit like a halo of smoke.

Then, faster then she ever thought possible, Brit was upon her again. With Brit's hand around her throat, Misty was lifted into the air, struggling for breath.

Only, Brit wasn't Brit Crust anymore. In front of Misty's astonished eyes, Brit changed: her body warped, metal segments emerging from her body, locking into place with each other, forming a protective carapace. The hand at Misty's neck changed too, sprouting claws that pressed increasingly harder into her flesh, drawing blood. Misty's eyes bulged in horror as she beheld the **thing** that Brit Crust had become.

_No no no,_ her mind pleaded, _don't get distracted. Your jugular vein is almost severed. Shift to mist form. Gather intelligence. Figure out a plan._

With a moment of effort Misty's body dissolved in Brit's grasp, dispersing into her pinkish mist form. The threat of strangulation averted, Misty went on the offensive, enveloping Brit in her mist body in order to peer into Brit's mind, and seek a clue as to what was going on.

Her mind, suffice it to say, was like nothing Misty had encountered before. The twisting logic, the broken memories, the sharp emotions that existed for no discernible reason. And then there was something else, lurking in the background, something dark that struck out like an assassin.

"Ahhn!" Misty cried in pain, her mind stunned from the brief contact like an electrical shock to the brain.

Opening her eyes with a groan, Misty wondered if she had actually blacked out for a second or two. As she fully regained her senses Misty spun around to examine her surroundings, finding the world looked warped, as though she were looking through curved glass.

Wait a second... she **was** looking through glass!

A monstrous hand reached down for her, lifting her glass prison into the air. Misty saw Brit's smirking face, laughing at her. "There we are, neatly vacuum-sealed into a simple mason jar. I hope you'll be comfortable. All my old pets liked this jar well enough. Except that I always seemed to forget to poke air holes in the lid... oh well. Sorry for the wait, but I haven't yet figured out a way to kill a _cloud_ yet, so I'll just have to keep you incapacitated until I finish my business with Jenny. I don't want to have any interruptions from you, or any of her other friends."

Misty's gaseous body swirled angrily inside the jar, but was unable to even form words without air to breathe.

Brit held the jar up to the light, looking at it with curiosity. "Hmm, I wonder if your gas form needs to eat? Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Laughing, Brit tossed the jar into a nearby snowbank. Misty was utterly trapped, compressed far to tightly inside the glass jar to reform anything solid, all she could do was watch as the villainess sauntered off, then sprouted wings and took to the air.

The softly falling snowflakes dropped, one by one, on top of Misty's glass prison. As her panic mounted higher and higher, so did the growing pile of snow. Finally the last beam of light was cut off as the jar was completely buried, and with it went any hope Misty had of being found before spring.

In the sky, Brit smiled and said to herself "One down..."

* * *

Taking a brief pause to steady her processors, Jenny hesitated in front of Brad's house, too nervous to press the doorbell. Before she could muster up the courage to depress the buzzer, an exuberant "Hi Jenny!" from behind made her start so suddenly she almost fell over.

"Tuck!" she called back, turning around and seeing the small neighbor boy running up to her in his winter snowsuit, something small and pinkish clutched under one arm.

"You coming over to see Brad?" Tuck asked, to which Jenny nodded, not volunteering any additional information.

"He's not in right now." Tuck explained, "He's going out tonight, on a _date_." he said the last word with distaste, sticking out his tongue at the idea that any boy would want to spend time with the opposite sex.

Despite her hesitancy moments earlier Jenny was still intent on speaking with Brad as soon as possible, and given that the sun hadn't even set yet, held out hope that she might have a chance to talk to him before he and Tiff went out.

"Thanks Tuck, I'll just drop by the Crusts' house to see if he's still there." she said, turning to leave.

Before she could take two steps, Tuck seemed to remember what he was holding under his arm and called out. "Waitasec Jenny, don't you wanna see what I found?"

Figuring it would only take a few seconds, Jenny shrugged and turned back to look at the jar that Tuck was holding in both hands.

"I found it in the snow when I was having a snowball fight near school today. Look inside, I think it's a genie! I just need to figure out how to get the cork to open..." Tuck rambled excitedly. Jenny peered into the glass of what seemed to be an ordinary mason jar, and took note of the swirling, faintly incandescent pink smoke contained within.

"Well I don't think it's a Genie..." Jenny said with a sardonic smile, "But it **is** weird looking. You should probably let my mom take a look at it before you open it. Just drop by my house tomorrow morning before school, ok?"

"Awwww..." Tuck groaned impatiently, but Jenny's stern look made him reluctantly agree to her terms. After all, Jenny had plenty of experience with cosmic weirdness and knowing Tremorton, the contents of the jar were just as likely to be some deadly space germ as they were to be a magical wish-granting spirit.

"Oh alright Jenny, I promise I won't open it until tomorrow..." Tuck sighed, trusting in Jenny's wisdom on the matter. She was pleased he hadn't put up any fight about it either, because Jenny didn't want to waste any time in locating Brad. Wishing Tuck a quick goodbye, Jenny took off towards Tiff Crust's house, hoping to catch them before they headed out on their date.

Tuck, on the other hand, turned and stepped into his house, closing the front door behind him. His mysterious jar cradled carefully in his arms, Tuck made a beeline for his bedroom. He had promised Jenny not to open the jar yet, but that didn't stop him from fantasizing about all the cool things he could wish for once he did open it.

Oblivious to the rest of the household, Tuck closed his bedroom door and sat on his bed, staring into the hypnotic smoky contents of his prize. Just think... he could wish for a million dollars, or a race car, or superpowers, or, or, or he could wish to be taller then Brad! Tuck giggled to himself at the idea of it, the expression on Brad's face when suddenly **he** was the "little brother".

His laughter stopped abruptly when he caught a brief glimpse of... were those eyes, forming in the pink mist inside the bottle? Eyes and... a face? Peering closer and closer, Tuck's imagined that he could almost hear a voice whispering to him. A throaty, feminine voice, pleading for him to release her.

A sudden crash from out in the hall made Tuck jump, and in an instant the vision in the bottle vanished. Slipping his treasure under his pillow for safekeeping, Tuck got up and stepped out of his bedroom to investigate the noise. At first, nothing seemed out of place, save for the complete lack of noise in the house; Tuck couldn't hear his mother cooking supper, or his father watching television or moving about the house or anything. Just silence.

Tuck was halfway down the staircase when he first caught a partial view of the kitchen. And the large pool of blood smeared across the floor.

With an involuntary gasp of shock, Tuck stumbled backwards and fell on his rear on the stairs, the wood creaking at his impact. Someone was in the house, some burglar or monster or terrorist or something, Tuck's fear-panicked mind realized.

Freezing up, Tuck held his breath in an attempt to remain completely silent and motionless, hoping that he hadn't been heard. As he sat, unable to run, he saw the cause of the bloodstained kitchen come sauntering into view.

The fear-filled boy vaguely recognized her as Brittany Crust, Jenny's nemesis in the social arena at Tremorton high. But she looked nothing like Tuck remembered her as. Her entire body was merged with sophisticated looking technology, armor and robotics. What remained of her human body was scantily clad, a dark black two-piece bikini showing off her trim midriff and shapely thighs. As Tuck watched, his limbs refusing to respond to his commands to run, Brit raised her metallic hands to her lips and eagerly popped her index finger into her mouth.

With loving care, the twisted Crust cousin diligently cleaned the still-warm blood from her fingers, licking and sucking each elongated claw to a shining polish.

When the last digit was cleaned Brit's eyes shifted suddenly and focused directly on Tuck, letting him know that she'd been aware of his presence but had purposely taken her time, perhaps only to heighten the boy's fear. Brit grinned, revealing her formerly crooked British teeth corrected and enhanced by silvery metal fangs.

"Boo!" she snapped, jolting Tuck free of his stupor. Screaming, he bolted up the stairs towards his room.

Just as Tuck grabbed hold of the doorknob, Brit's claw slapped down against the door, easily overcoming the boy's strength and preventing the door from being opened. Trapped, Tuck turned to face his tormentor, his teeth chattering audibly. Smirking like a cat toying with its food, Brit leaned down to bring her face to Tuck's eye level.

"W... wh... what do you want from me?" Tuck asked, his voice shaking.

"Hrmmm... nothing much..." Brit purred, taking time to slowly roll each individual word off her tongue, gently tracing the tip of one razor-edged finger under her prey's chin as she spoke. "I just need some information. Your parents... they weren't very helpful."

Brit's gaze held a subtle menace, reinforced by the pain she was carefully inflicting on the boy's sensitive flesh. "I'm looking for your older brother. Do you know where he is... Tucker?"

A squeak came from Tuck's throat, before he gulped to regain his voice. "Brad's gone over to his girlfriend's house... they're having some kinda anniversary or something... I think..." he answered timidly, unsure.

Flashing him a hungry, toothy smile, Brit pressed herself closer to Tuck, cutting off any possible avenue of retreat and putting herself intimately into his personal space. Her voice dropped to a threatening growl, Brit intoned "You wouldn't lie to me, would you Tuck?"

His only response was a frightened whimper, Brit's claws clutching his body and ready to stab into delicate parts of his anatomy at a moment's notice.

"Because I'm on a tight schedule tonight, but I still have time to punish you if you're dishonest with me. And you do look like a tasty little snack..." Brit's grin appeared again, accompanied by a quick appearance of her vibrantly pink tongue, snaking out to caress one of her extended upper canines like a lioness preparing for the kill.

The talons at Tuck's collar twitched in readiness, but it was the hand at his belt buckle that worried him more.

Eyes welling up with moisture, Tuck managed a forced "...please..." before his voice collapsed again. Brit's smile widened, taking on an insane twist to it.

* * *

Crossing her legs and nervously fiddling with her hair-foils, Jenny anxiously waited in front of the main entrance of the Crust manor. She'd already rung the doorbell, so it was too late to back out now. Well, maybe she could run for the bushes, if she sprinted now, she might be able to-

"Hello...? Oh, it's _you_." said Tiff Crust with a note of hostility in her voice as she answered the door, seeing Jenny there. Tiff had never really liked Jenny, ever since Jenny's first day attending Tremorton high school, and the long string of pranks and maliciousness that the girls had shown each other had only deepened the sentiment. The feeling was mutual, as well. Jenny had worried she might have to get past this obstacle, but she wouldn't be able to rest until things were set right with Brad, so she'd go through Tiff if she had to.

"Hey Tiff. Is Brad over tonight?" Jenny asked politely, forcing a friendly smile.

Tiff was unimpressed, frowning at Jenny. "Yeah, he is. We're watching a movie in mah room... it's kinda private. So, if ya don't mind..." Tiff moved to shut the door, until Jenny sprang forward and held it open with one hand, buying her a second chance to plead her case.

"I don't mean to intrude, Tiff, but I really need to talk to Brad. It'll only take a minute, really!"

Tiff bared her teeth, becoming angry. "Yah can wait until tomorrow then!" Tiff barked, straining harder to shove the door shut but failing against Jenny's servo-powered strength. Seeing how strongly Tiff wanted her to leave, Jenny suspected she had an idea why Tiff didn't want her around. Brad and herself **had** been a fairly hot item before the break up, and Tiff probably felt threatened by Jenny making a reappearance in Brad's life.

But that wasn't the case at all; Jenny was happy with Sheldon, and though it was kind of a bitter pill to swallow, she was happy Brad had found Tiff as well. "Please Tiff... you know Brad and I haven't been talking since we broke up. I just want to be friends with him again. That's all."

"Well..." Tiff sighed, slightly swayed by the sincerity in Jenny's voice. She did know that Brad and Jenny had been experiencing a cold spot in their friendship since their breakup. A breakup that **she** had helped happen.

That little fact had been gnawing at Tiff's conscience every time one of Brad's anecdotes featured Jenny in a prominent role, and his tone would get a distant, wistful quality to it. He didn't talk about it much, perhaps because of the role Tiff had played in the breakup, but Tiff knew that Brad missed Jenny's friendship too. And if it was important for Brad's happiness, well... Tiff supposed she could let the robot win this one.

Grudgingly, she released her grip on the door and allowed Jenny into her house.

"Ok, but keep it short. I'll go get him for you." Tiff said, turning to climb the stairs to the second floor. Pausing a few steps up, Tiff turned back to Jenny and added "By the way... the photos that Brit showed you, of her with Brad?"

Jenny frowned at the memory, but nodded.

"Well... ya shouldn't be mad at Brad fr' that. He was sorta forced into it, kinda. I was there, and it was just part'a Brit's plan."

Jenny smiled, immensely relieved. She had still been grappling with how to resolve that conflict with Brad, and this info would make things much easier. She was about to thank Tiff when Tiff interrupted her; "Save it. This don't make us friends or nuthin'." before turning and ascending the stairs, calling out for her boyfriend.

A short minute later, Brad emerged onto the front step where Jenny was waiting for him, and Tiff returned to her bedroom upstairs.

"Hey Jen." Brad opened, unsure exactly how to proceed. It was clear that they both had the same thing on their minds, but neither knew what to say first. "...How's the baby?"

Jenny smiled and patted her swollen belly, responding "Kicking like a jackhammer. And keeping me up half the night doing it, too."

Brad smiled back, Jenny's familiar sense of humor putting him right at ease, as it always did. He took a seat beside her, and with a small nod of permission from Jenny, placed his hand on her belly to feel for a kick from the baby.

"I've missed you." Jenny said, her voice tender and heartfelt. She placed a hand over his, her strong, cold skin contrasting his soft, warm flesh. Brad looked Jenny in the eye, and with a sigh he agreed. He had to fight the urge to lean in to kiss her, an urge born largely out of habit, and Brad could see in her eyes that Jenny was straining against the same compulsion. It was so easy to fall right back into their old patterns of behavior, except-

Except that there was undeniable proof of Jenny's indiscretion right under his palm.

Following his eyes downward, Jenny offered "It didn't have anything to do with you." by way of explanation.

It was the truth. When she had slept with Sheldon, it was a moment of passion, of desire both carnal and emotional, and she believed... true love. But none of it was to hurt Brad, that was the last thing she wanted. One night of succumbing to temptation had rapidly snowballed into lie upon lie, until the entire situation blew up in Jenny's face.

Brad didn't seem satisfied however.

"Well... why didn't it? Didn't you think of me at all when you were with him?" Brad demanded, raising his voice. In a quieter tone, he added "...You broke my heart Jenny..."

The guilt tore at her but Jenny held herself together, needing to make things right between them again.

"I did think about you. I did. I decided that you and I would have been broken up soon enough anyway, so it wouldn't really hurt anything if I got together with Sheldon. I know it was impatient and immature and stupid, but... am I wrong? Did you really think our relationship was going all that great?"

Brad started, then replied "Well I _did_. It was textbook dating. I was the slightly more experienced older guy, you were the cute, slightly naive girl next door. What more could I ask for?"

"How about death-defying adventure and thrilling superheroics?" Jenny responded, digging deeper into Brad's motivation. Brad had nothing to counter that with... he **did** love action, and had never made any secret about it. Jenny nudged him, "Come on... don't tell me that wasn't at least _part_ of the appeal for you. Dating a teenage robot has certain perks, and for you that was definitely one of them."

"Yeah." Brad admitted, heaving a heavy sigh. Even before he and Jenny had become an item, he would sometimes find himself hanging out with her in hopes that he'd become part of the excitement that was her life. But he'd always felt like a sidekick, like he was just tagging along for the ride... dating Jenny meant he was a permanent fixture in her life, that they were truly equals who could participate equally in the adventure.

And it had worked, for a little while. But when he was busy saving the day, Jenny had turned to a boy that loved Jenny... really **loved** her... for who she was inside. Brad had to agree... as much as he enjoyed dating Jenny, Sheldon was a better match for her.

"That still doesn't make it _right_, though." he commented, folding his arms over his chest in a stubborn posture.

Jenny frowned, once again feeling ashamed of her actions. "I know what I did was wrong..." she admitted, choosing her words carefully, "and I'm deeply sorry. For the pain I caused you. And the strain it put on our friendship. And the humiliation Brit Crust added didn't help either. But most of all... I'm sorry because I can't stand the thought of you not being my friend any more."

"Mom raises me as best as she can, but you're the one who I learn about real life from."

Jenny blushed, and Brad held his breath, straining to hear her as she lowered her voice.

"You're my role model Brad. My Hero."

Feeling the walls around his heart collapsing, Brad leaned Jenny into his arms, cradling her affectionately. Hearing Jenny's words, Brad found he simply couldn't feel angry towards Jenny any more... they were too close for that.

"I forgive you." he said bluntly, and noticed Jenny smile out of the corner of his eye, and felt her return his hug.

"Just one thing though..." he asked Jenny playfully, "That was the only reason you got with Sheldon, right? I wasn't a bad boyfriend or anything?"

Smiling widely, Jenny squeezed Brad in another hug. "You were a great boyfriend." she answered, and Brad returned the hug as well. "But, " she added, "You're a better best-friend." and emphasized her feelings with a warm kiss on Brad's cheek.

Jenny giggled involuntarily, simply from the happy mood coursing through her. Brad had forgiven her, and all was well.

"And for the record, you're great in bed too." she said with a wink.

Brad gave her a sly grin, "They say you never forget your first time."

"They're right. I've got a few dozen revealing jpeg's of you in my memory that I'll be saving for future reference." Jenny shot back.

"Thanks for coming by Jenny, I'm glad everything is cool between us again. I gotta get back though, tonight is date night with Tiff and I don't wanna keep her waiting too long."

Jenny and Brad said their farewells, and Brad headed back inside. Jenny breathed a long sigh of relief before heading home. Tonight had definitely been a positive one. Throughout the day she had felt like some foreboding shadow had been following her around, just on her heels. But now the weight was lifted, and Jenny felt as though nothing could defeat the good mood she was in.

Meanwhile, Tiff waited for Brad in her bedroom, watching the last scenes of their movie of the night with limited interest. Her mind was otherwise occupied, thanks to the surprise visit from Jenny. It was annoying to have her personal time with Brad interrupted, especially by her oft-foe Jenny, but she was grateful to have a few minutes alone with her thoughts.

She reasoned that she _should_ be worried about Jenny's reappearance in Brad's life... but she wasn't.

Which was weird. Tiff was no stranger to boyfriends that came with baggage or unresolved relationships, and typically her confrontational nature would latch onto something like this and end the relationship, fast. But something about this time was different, something about Brad. Tiff's eyes narrowed in concentration, resting her chin against her hand as she thought over the possibilities.

Over the past month, Tiff had gotten to know Brad inside and out. It would've been difficult not to; with Brit missing Tiff had little control over the usual social circles at school, and Brad being on the outs with Jenny cut him off from two of his best friends. With no one their own age to socialize with but each other, Brad had taken every opportunity to spend time with Tiff.

And really, Tiff wouldn't have had it any other way. Spending time with Brad was fun in ways completely lacking in Tiff's previous fast-paced, seedy lifestyle. Things with him were _wholesome_. They traded stories from their past, went out on dates, shared secrets and hopes for the future. She had even told him about her childhood desire to someday be a police officer, something she hadn't even told her cousin (particularly because, in some of the circles of people Brit brought them in contact with, the police were decidedly _uncool_).

Returning to the bedroom, Brad smiled at Tiff and settled onto the bed beside her. Tiff casually welcomed Brad back, failing to ask about his talk with Jenny moments before. She didn't want to seem nosy, and figured what had just occurred was probably a fairly personal matter.

He had always given her the same courtesy, after all. He was such a gentleman. He was polite, gave Tiff her space when she asked for it, and even defended her against Vexus during the party at Prima's. Tiff leaned against her boyfriend and wrapped her arm over his chest. Ever since that night, Tiff found Brad's presence made her feel safer.

Thoughts of the party inevitably brought Tiff's mind back to Brit. Despite all that had happened, Tiff still felt close to her cousin, who had been her best friend for so much of her life.

After the party, Tiff had been told about the terrible things Brit had done. The situation was definitely dire. But Tiff still held out hope that Brit might recover. After Brit's remaining sanity snapped during Prima's party, Brad had helped Tiff search for her missing cousin. More importantly, he did so without alerting the authorities or spilling the beans to Brit's parents. Since it had been her humiliation at the hands of Jenny that had sparked this whole thing, Tiff felt it was best for Brit's mind if the whole incident had as little publicity as possible. Thankfully, Skyway Patrol were mired in their usual bureaucracy, and Brit was normally at home so rarely that a few small lies were all it had taken to keep Brit's parents in the dark.

And the whole time, Brad had been the one Tiff could confide her fears in. Tiff realized that she **trusted** him. She knew nothing had happened between him and Jenny just now because she couldn't believe that Brad would do anything that would hurt her like that.

That was not something she had ever been able to say before, even of her best friend Brit. An idea crept into Tiff's mind... something she had been turning over in her thoughts for a while now, but hadn't seriously considered really. But why not? It's not like Brad was like her previous boyfriends in any **other** regard either.

If she and Brad eventually did break up, she concluded that she'd have more regrets if she didn't go for it then if she did. Smiling to herself, Tiff nuzzled her face against Brad's shoulder affectionately.

"Well hello..." Brad said playfully, feigning surprise at Tiff's amorous advances. Not _too_ surprised though.

As was often the case, Tiff's aunt and uncle were out of town on business, leaving Brit and Tiff to their own devices... only, Brit had been missing since the start of November, so the house was really just Tiff and Brad's private love nest for the time being.

Playing through their standard progression of teases and flirting touches, Brad's arms encircled Tiff and she responded by resting her hands on his chest, while peppering his neck and collar with light kisses. Allowing her tongue to snake up over his jaw and into his ear, Tiff heard Brad practically purr with pleasure. She was good at this, tiny licks and nibbles expertly arousing her boyfriend to a fever pitch.

Still, as experienced as she was, she would be the one venturing into unexplored territory tonight. The thought scared her a little, but made her excited too, and before she knew it her hands were fiddling with Brad's belt buckle, eager to get to the next stage in their lovemaking. Brad seemed a little surprised at how forward she was being, his breathing heavy from her skilled ministrations.

"I take it you're up for round two already?" he asked with his usual attempt at slyness, which Tiff answered with her usual husky laugh.

"Not jus' yet..." she said with a hungry grin, " ...but soon."

Tiff batted her lashes at Brad and pulled him bodily on top of her as she reclined on her bed. The next few minutes were a blur of kisses and gropes, love bites and rapidly discarded clothing. Brad was rearing to go, Tiff could tell by the way he was already weakly thrusting against her hip, but she had to make him wait a little bit longer.

Tonight would be special... and she didn't want it to zoom past like so many of her other firsts.

"Darlin'," Tiff breathed, her heart thumping loudly in her chest and her urges threatening to overwhelm her, "I wanna do sumthin' different tonight." Brad just listened, smiling down at her with his bright, honest face. Tiff was so deeply in love with that baby-face of his. "I want'cha ta pop mah cherry."

Brad's expression instantly turned to one of concern. He fully realized the implications of what Tiff wanted, how much effort she had invested in saving herself. She stroked a hand against his cheek to reassure him. "I'm sure." she answered his unspoken question, "Trust me."

All doubt faded from Brad's face, replaced with redoubled enthusiasm. Before he could get any further however, Tiff quickly added "But first, you're gonna haveta test th' water wit somethin' a bit smaller."

Brad pretended to be shocked, "My lady, I wouldn't dream of anything else!" he protested with a flourish, knowing what Tiff was hinting at. A timid kiss on the back of Tiff's palm lead to another a few inches up her wrist, and another on her inner elbow, and soon enough Brad was leading a trail of kisses all over Tiff's nude body. Up past her shoulders lead to a brief detour around her neck, then flowed down over her breasts with plentiful licks topping each stiffening nipple.

Kisses were purposely left on Tiff's ticklish sides and belly, then across her wide hips to the lightly furred treasure nestled at her center. Tiff giggled at the teasing pecks, and moaned softly at the first serious touch of Brad's tongue against her inflamed sex. Her legs spread wider involuntarily, inviting him closer, but Brad knew to take his time. Practice had taught him just how Tiff liked to be eaten out, and the best orgasms had to be worked for.

Each hot fold of flesh received its share of attention in turn, Tiffs inner labia spreading of their own accord the more aroused she became. By now her pussy was literally dripping a combination of Brad's saliva and her own nectar down her thighs and ass, and her clit, which Brad had thus far deftly avoided any major contact with, was fully erect and begging for attention. Tiff felt Brad's tongue probe one last time into her virgin love tunnel (a last goodbye to her hymen, Tiff wondered?) before moving in for the kill.

The first brush of Brad's tongue against Tiff's clitty hit her like a thunderbolt up her spine, but it didn't stop there. Back and forth, the flat of Brad's tongue massaged over her engorged pearl, rapidly bringing Tiff to the brink of release. She ground her hips up against Brad's mouth, smearing her frothing pussy juices against his lips and chin, but he would always pull away just before her climax came and left her teetering on the edge of release.

Tiff was about to scream out her need to cum, when she looked down at Brad's naked body and spotted his large erect cock. Brad's free hand was slowly stroking himself, precum dribbling from the tip, and Tiff thought it was just about the sexiest sight she'd ever seen.

It also reminded her why she had asked Brad to eat her out to begin with. "Stop... enough of that..." she heaved, short of breath. Brad lifted his face, dripping with her excretions, from Tiff's groin and brought himself up level with her. She kissed him, unafraid of tasting herself on his tongue as it slipped past her lips.

Opening her mouth wider, Tiff pulled Brad's tongue deeper in with her own, even as she pulled his body closer with her and held him tightly with her legs wrapped firmly around his waist. Not to be outdone, Brad was busy at work; his hands fondling and cupping Tiff's plump breasts and his hips grinding his rock-hard erection against the hot flesh of Tiff's spread cunt. The two teens had used this position a few times in the past during earlier sex play, seeking out intimacy without Tiff giving up her vaginal virginity. It worked fairly well; Tiff could stroke her clit up and down the length of Brad's shaft to her heart's content, squeezing his length between her smooth outer pussy lips until his passion spurted forth over her belly and pubic hair.

Tonight, Brad was using the same technique to keep her gasping for breath and conveniently allowing her one last opportunity to change her mind. But Tiff was already certain.

"C'mon Brad... I need ya bad baby..." she cooed, turning her head to the side to allow her lover to suckle at her neck, probably leaving a hickey as she spoke. Between her legs, Tiff felt the tip of Brad's sizable member dip down, finding the puckered, quivering entrance to her soaked womanhood. It gently nudged into her, her lips spreading around the invading cock until it halted at the filmy barrier of her maidenhead. Tiff tensed up, knowing this part would hurt, but nevertheless still gripped Brad tight and murmured "Do it."

The sudden deep plunge of Brad's cock into her body didn't hurt Tiff so much as it simply shocked her. As Brad began a slow, steady rhythm Tiff noticed that she felt very little pain from the tearing of her cherry, instead it mostly just felt slightly cold inside her. And even that was fading quickly, as Brad's cockflesh was warmed by the hot interior of Tiff's vagina and her inner muscles stretched to accommodate their first fucking. Tiff Crust looked up at Brad's face and saw his expression of intense pleasure and exertion.

In a strained voice he groaned "Oh my God Tiff, you're so **tight**! I can't even get it all the way in yet!"

Vaguely, Tiff felt proud that her body was bringing Brad such lust, but she didn't have much time to contemplate that fact in face of the mounting waves of pleasure she was experiencing emanating from the depths of her body. She had already been on the verge of an orgasm when Brad had stopped eating her out, and she knew it wouldn't take much to bring her right back there again. Every stroke of her lover's rigid tool set off brief sparks of ecstasy inside her, but the lingering pain of her deflowering still held her back from her release.

"F-fuck me Brad! Fuck me hard!" she cried, "I'm almost there! ...jus' don't stop! ...Uhhnngg... uh! uh! uh!"

"Tiff, I'm gonna cum too...!" Brad huffed between breaths, a warning. Tiff didn't care though. She had made her choice, and if Brad was good enough to pop her cherry, then he was good enough for whatever else might happen too.

"Don't stop! please don't!" Tiff begged, her legs flexing with all her strength to pull Brad deep inside her and keep him there. Buried in Tiff up to the root of his cock, Brad held onto his girlfriend's haunches and readied himself for his oncoming orgasm, already feeling his sperm bubbling up from his balls and about to shoot. Tiff felt his muscles tensing and heard his breathing come in quick little gasps, the same as her own, and knew it was too late to pull out even if she'd wanted to.

The first blast of heat into her loins made Tiff shiver with delight, and she ground her cunt up against Brad's throbbing manhood in an effort to collect every drop of his jism. This also added the sensation of grinding her clit against her lover as well as feeling the tickle of Brad's heavy balls come into contact with Tiff's sensitive anal entrance. With her pussy and asshole humming with pleasure, the next spurt of Brad's seed was all that was needed to send Tiff into a screaming orgasm. Every part of her lower anatomy seemed to convulse, squeezing and milking at the thick rod that was giving her such fits of pleasure. Brad's grunts, in time with the gushes of cum issuing from his dick, punctuated Tiff's long, continuous moan. Tiff's head swam, she felt out of breath and dizzy, and suddenly the room went dark.

"Tiff? Baby, are you ok?" asked Brad, concerned.

Shaking her head to orient herself, Tiff realized that she had blacked out from overexertion. "Hmm? Mmm... I'm fine." she assured him in a weak voice, and reached up for him to pull her boyfriend against her in a hot embrace. Tiff cooed to her lover, basking in the pleasant warm afterglow. Brad, for his part, buried his face against Tiff's neck and seemed content to cuddle her as well.

Funny, Tiff never had been much for cuddling before... but then again, Brad was the first boy she'd been with who really fit the role. Time seemed to stretch from a few passing moments into an eden-like eternity...

Until the solitary sound of a slow clapping intruded on her fantasy-like evening.

Looking over Brad's shoulder, beyond her bed and standing by the open bedroom door was Brit, casually applauding. Tiff shrieked, unable to do much more then squirm under Brad's weight.

"What, what is it?" Brad asked in confusion, raising his voice over the sound of Tiff's scream. Alarmed, Brad moved to get up off the bed for fear that he had somehow hurt Tiff, when suddenly he felt a cold metal claw grip him firmly by the back of the neck.

"Oh, don't get up on my account." taunted Brit, hoisting the naked and thrashing Brad bodily into the air over the bed.

Tiff gaped, wondering how such a thing was possible, until she noticed the bizarre implants adorning Brit's body like some kind of armor.

"Brit...?!" gasped Tiff, horrified at the cybernetic monster that her dear cousin had become.

Brit looked over Brad's naked body appraisingly, seemingly unconcerned by his struggles. "So, _this_ is what you betrayed me for?" Brit chided her cousin, "I don't see what the fuss is about. He seems rather unimpressive to me. But then, perhaps I shouldn't judge before I've had a sample, eh?"

In response, Brad launched a swift kick backwards into Brit's stomach, making the psychotic girl lurch and grunt in pain. However, the attack failed to make Brit release her grip, and quickly enough she recovered from the kick and growled her annoyance.

Making sure to use a closed fist to avoid killing him outright, Brit used her free hand to punch Brad across the jaw, knocking him senseless. A second punch followed to Brad's midsection, and another slammed against his belly, each raising nasty looking welts on his skin. Brit's eyes took on a wild look as she pummeled the defenseless boy, slapping and backhanding him across the face again and again, until suddenly Tiff saw the rage drain from Brit's features. As quickly as it had come upon her, Brit's feral viciousness had been replaced with contemptuous humor, and she giggled with amusement as though the thrashing she'd just given Brad was only some minor joke.

Brit casually threw the boy down on the bed next to Tiff, where he landed on his back. Tiff rushed to Brad's aid, but didn't know a thing about first aid, so could only offer the comfort of her presence.

A split second later Brit pounced upon him, straddling his hips and leaning one hand against his chest. Normally Brad would have had no problem pushing Brit aside... she was a slender girl, and Brad was decently athletic... but as hard as he tried, he couldn't even budge Brit's hand pinning him to the mattress. Brit flat out ignored the boy under her, conversing with Tiff as if Brad was an inanimate object.

"So, Tiff, what do you think of my new accessories?" Brit asked in a conversational tone, giving her wings a quick flick to direct Tiff's attention to her new tech. Tiff could only stare in open-mouthed shock, her eyes following Brit's wings to the armored chassis on her back, and to the wires and tubes that extended from it.

Extended into Brit's flesh.

How could her cousin do this to her body? _What_ has she done to her body? Even worse, whatever had happened to Brit's body, there was no doubt left about her mind. At Tiff's lack of response, Brit beamed happily and announced "She's speechless! I knew she'd love it."

"Leave us alone, you psycho!" shouted Brad angrily, still struggling to remove Brit from his lap. Brit's attention instantly swung around to focus on the pinned teen boy under her, directing a harsh glare at him.

"**You** I have unfinished business with." she declared in a shockingly harsh voice, traces of a mechanical buzz creeping into the back of her throat, "Or have you forgotten that bomb you detonated on my back?"

Brad felt the air stolen from his lungs by Brit's hand pushing down against his ribcage, compressing his lungs until he could barely draw breath.

"No...!" Tiff cried a seeing Brad in pain, but found her voice weaker then she had meant... it came out not as a command as she had intended, but a plea.

Brit turned her attention back to her cowering cousin, regaining her friendly tone and giving Tiff a warm smile. "So, let's have some girl talk. How was your first real fuck Tiffany? I was wondering when you'd stop being such a prude. Did you make him scream for you?"

Tiff was shaking in mortal fear.

Though the light was dim, she could still recognize the machinery Brit had been fused with. She well remembered Vexus' deadly potency from her close encounter with the alien queen at the Halloween party. Worse, Brit's personality was so erratic... she could lash out and kill them both in seconds if her mood swung at the wrong time.

"Just... take it easy Brit. We can get you some help..." said Tiff in as best of a calm voice as she could manage, and reached out a hand to place reassuringly on Brit's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" shrieked Brit, slapping Tiff's hand away. "You lost that privilege when you rejected me before. Betrayed our lifelong friendship for... this one." Brit's venomous gaze returned once more to Brad, now focusing on him with much greater intensity.

"I've decided that, seeing as we're so close, we should share our things like good cousins." Brit declared, licking her lips hungrily as her eyes roamed over Brad's naked body, bruised as it was. Casually picking up Brad's wilted member in one hand, Brit could tell she didn't have much chance of resurrecting his lost erection by herself.

"Tiff," she commanded, "come get your boy-toy hard for me."

When Tiff hesitated, Brit glared and added "Do it now, or I'll rip it off and then neither of us will get to play with it!"

Reluctantly Tiff lowered her head to where Brad's and Brit's laps were inches from each other, and took the tip of Brad's member into her mouth. At least this would give her a few seconds to think before Brit had a mood swing and decided the kill them both. Before tonight she never would have thought her cousin could be capable of anything like this but now...

After what she'd just witnessed, she wouldn't put anything past Brit.

If it still **was** Brit anymore.

In her mouth, Brad's cock was responding mechanically to the stimulation she was giving it as she sucked it clean of their combined cum. Tiff cracked open an eye and saw that Brit's hand had slipped into the side of her swimsuit bottoms, and was busily jilling off as she watched Tiff blowing Brad back to an erection. From this distance Tiff could easily smell the heady scent of Brit's arousal, and she was sure that was probably part of the thrill for Brittany. Remembering Brit's earlier attempt at seducing Tiff, she could only hope that she wouldn't force Tiff to eat her out too.

"Okay, that's enough." barked Brit impatiently, pulling Tiff's head off of Brad's lap and pushing her aside. "He's ready..." muttered Brit, sliding the swimsuit's crotch to one side, exposing her aroused sex.

Purring with anticipation, Brit smirked and said "If he's good enough to take your cherry, I figure he must at least be worth a ride." just before slipping Brad's erection up into her pussy and sinking herself down onto his hips, squealing as she impaled herself with Brad's sizable penis.

"Aahhooohhmmm..." Brit sighed, slowly rocking her hips as she got used to the feeling of Brad's cock sliding in and out of her tight hole.

"You're sick, you... rapist!" accused Brad angrily.

"You need to teach your pet some obedience Tiff. Good boyfriends should be seen, not heard." Brit lectured with a frown. Her hands seized Brad by the neck and applied a light pressure, more than sufficient to silence any further insults from him and keeping him wavering on the edge of unconsciousness as well.

Tiff crawled over beside Brad and grabbed hold of his hand, trying to offer some form of support without angering Brit. Brit clearly hadn't noticed though. Instead she moaned and closed her eyes in pleasure, pumping her hips up and down at an increasing speed, the room falling silent except for Brit's whimpers of pleasure and the wet slapping of her groin against her victim's.

Her captor somewhat distracted, Tiff wracked her brain to think of something, _anything_, she could do to beat her cousin. Her cousin who now possessed the strength and abilities of Vexus, the physical match of XJ-9, the world's most advanced combat robot.

But... but there had been a time when Tiff **had** beaten Jenny! It was a long shot...

Tiff's planning was interrupted when Brit returned her attention to her, "I asked you a question Tiff..." Brit reminded her, "...did he scream for you?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Brit saw Tiff shake her head 'no'.

"Well then, let me show you how it's done..." she grinned, raising one taloned hand from Brad's neck.

Brad's scream erupted through the house as the claws of Brit's free hand sunk into the flesh over his heart, neatly slicing through the lightly-haired skin and pushing deeper until they met the resistance of the boy's ribcage.

"**Stop it!**" screamed Tiff in horror, but Brit ignored her.

With artistic precision, Brit slowly raked the razor tips of her fingers down across Brad's chest, tearing four jagged red wounds across the front of his torso that immediately welled up with blood, then flooded over to spill out across his front and onto the sheets of the bed.

Brad's tortured scream quieted to agonized groans when Brit finished her stroke and withdrew her talons, wiping the blood off on her thigh.

"Ohh, that was fun... he jerks around inside you when you hurt him... you should try it sometime Tiff." Brit purred, admiring her handiwork. Her smile turned to a pout when a realization struck her, remarking "I should've carved my name instead. Now I've ruined the canvas. Oh well." before resuming bouncing herself on Brad's lap, laughing insanely while Tiff watched on with horror.

"Ung, unh, unh, MMMM!" moaned Brit as she satisfied herself on the nearly unconscious Brad. "You know, it's been over a month since the last time I got some dick? I feel like a virgin all over again!" Brit exclaimed, her hips bouncing up and down, forcing the full length of Brad's pole up into her sodden pink slit again and again. Brit caught Tiff looking at her, and she smirked mischievously as she got an idea.

"I've heard that hanged men will ejaculate at the moment of death, from the sudden jolt to their nervous systems when their necks are broken." she said, flexing her hand against Brad's throat. "Do you think it's a myth? I'm curious..." with contemptuous ease, Brit turned Brad's head to the side, gripped firmly, and twisted...

"**Stop right now!**" Tiff screamed, making Brit pause. Tiff had no authority here... Brit was the one in control. She was stronger, faster... invulnerable. So what did Tiff think she could accomplish? Brit had everything she wanted.

"Please, let Brad go. He needs ta get to a hospital. " Tiff begged, tears in her eyes.

Brit scoffed.

"And why should I do that? The boy humiliated me, collapsed my empire, left me adrift in a featureless void to die. I intend to return the favor." Brit hissed, raising a claw to further rend Brad's flesh.

Grabbing Brit's raised arm, Tiff pleaded "'Cause if ya let 'im go... you can have me."

Brit's expression changed to disbelieving shock. Her features softened, approaching the Brit that Tiff knew. "You mean... it'll be like before...? You'll follow my plans, work together with me... be my...?"

Tiff nodded her consent. "I only want a chance to... say goodbye to Brad." she added sadly, which didn't please Brit at all.

Still, she didn't see the harm.

"I've already cut the phone lines, so don't even think about calling the authorities." Brit warned, but since Tiff didn't seem at all discouraged she relented. After all, Brad would probably just die from blood loss before he could make it next door anyway. But in exchange, she'd have her old companion back to share her imminent victory with.

"Oh... very well." Brit huffed, lifting herself off of the injured teen and giving Tiff some space.

As soon as she was able, Tiff carefully lifted Brad from the bed, wincing at how much blood had spilled all over his chest.

"Tiff, no..." Brad started weakly as he was carried to the bedroom doorway, but Tiff quickly shushed him.

Hugging him gently, Tiff whispered into his ear, "Jus' listen up, and do exactly what I tell ya to, got me?"

"A couple'a years back, me and Brit got ahold of these crystal prom dresses, ok? Only, the crystals were from space or something, and they could let you do whatever you wanted. Like magic or sumpthin'. But they were damn ugly, so Brit locked 'em up in our storage area in the basement... they're in a crate marked "Out Of Style". Fifth row, top shelf, on the left side of the aisle right in front of th' entrance. Just get ahold of dem crystals and picture you'self fixed up, ok? Then ya can come back and up here an rescue me."

Brad looked extremely unhappy with having to leave Tiff at Brit's mercy, but he remembered the crystals Tiff was talking about, and it was a solid plan. Jenny had told him about the thorough thrashing the Crusts gave her using the "Pip Crystals" as she had called them. If such a weapon could easily defeat Jenny, then the cyborg-enhanced Brit would be no problem.

His only challenge now was getting to them before he passed out.

Before she let him go, Tiff grabbed him one more time and kissed his lips with an intensity Brad had never experienced before. "If this don't work... I love you Brad." she said seriously, and pushed him on his way before he could argue.

Now alone with her twisted cousin and subject to whatever whims Brit had in store for her, Tiff turned to face her fate bravely. She still held out hope that Brad might be able to save her... or alert Jenny, or at least get away to safety... she also knew there was a good chance that Brad wouldn't make it in time, and Tiff would have to return to being Brit's lackey.

It was funny, a year ago Tiff thought that being at Brit's side was the most enviable position in school. She knew that other girls would have loved to be where she was, even Jenny wanted to be Brit's friend when she first arrived.

But now, after living life on her own, being her own person for the first time she could remember. Now there was nothing she dreaded more then returning to the way things were.

"Alright Brit... whatever ya want, I'll help ya." Tiff said, resigning herself to her fate.

Brit looked at her, trusting hope in her eyes. She seemed so overjoyed at the prospect of having Tiff to herself again. Tiff thought Brit might even cry, or hug her, or both.

"Tiff..." Brit said happily, and Tiff thought that perhaps Brit might calm down enough that she could get her some psychiatric help. Then, right before Tiff's eyes, Brit's expression subtly shifted.

Tiff imagined she could see the conversation occurring inside Brit's head, one part of her psyche arguing against another. Suddenly Brit's eyebrows knitted together in suspicion, her lips peeled back to bare her silvery fangs, and she seemed to have reached some sort of decision.

" ...Prove it." she demanded, the harsh metallic twang returning to her voice.

With a hard shove Brit pushed the naked Tiff backwards onto the bed, and proceeded to peel off her black bikini pieces, leaving her female anatomy bare and sticking out from between the hard metal implants of Vexus' remains.

Downstairs, Brad crashed to the floor, overturning a vase and shattering it on his way down. He had made it to the ground floor and halfway to the entrance to the basement when he momentarily blacked out from low blood pressure and was sent toppling to the ground.

Regaining his senses, Brad planted both hands against the floor, getting them covered in the blood that had spilled from his slashed chest, and hoisted himself to his feet. His vision was blurring and he felt extremely lightheaded, but he knew he had to press on... for Tiff's sake.

He was her only hope.

Leaning his weight against the basement door, Brad forced his eyes to focus so that he could work the doorknob, leaving a bloody hand print on the wooden door. With all the strength he could muster Brad twisted the knob and flung the door open. No longer leaning on the door for support, Brad's equilibrium failed him, and he hurtled down the basement steps completely limp.

Tiff shuddered involuntarily, but forced herself to remain calm. She had to go through the motions of whatever Brit's delusions told her was necessary. Though in her present emotional state, it wasn't easy hiding her revulsion for the other girl.

Hovering over her on hands and knees, Brit studied Tiff with calculating coldness. The darker Crust cousin leaned down, flattening her breasts against Tiff's, breathing in the smaller girl's scent.

"I'm going to make you like me..." Brit intoned, speaking softly.

Tiff felt the cold wetness of Brit's tongue travel up her cheek and down the side of her neck, and she had no choice but to turn her head to the side, allowing her cousin to have her way with her. A sudden change from licking to a bite made Tiff yelp out loud, and Brit pulled her head back to look appreciatively at the bite mark she left of Tiff's shoulder.

Tiff's expression must have betrayed her, because Brit clearly read her look that asked '_what the hell are you doing?_'

"... but first I must punish you for betraying me like you did."

As Tiff watched, Brit rummaged through the top drawer of her nightstand, producing her oft-used dildo and shoving it in Tiff's face.

"Suck it. Show me how you serviced that boyfriend of yours." Brit commanded, forcing the tip of the plastic cock into Tiff's mouth.

Tiff did as she was told, halfheartedly blowing the fake penis and making is slick with her saliva. She had some idea that this would not be the only use Brit got out of the dildo, so she decided it would be better to give it some lubrication now while she had the chance. Still, Tiff was determined she could take any "punishment" Brit had in mind... for Brad's sake.

She was his only hope.

As she did so, Brit laid herself down on top of Tiff, forcing her knees apart so that her cousin was spread eagle beneath her.

"Mmmm... that looks very hot Tiffany." purred Brit as she watched, absent-mindedly grinding her sopping pussy against Tiff's spread labia, her erect clitoris seeking out Tiff's hidden one. What could Tiff do? She kissed the tip of the phallus seductively, and squeezed Brit's hips with her thighs, feigning affection.

Lights appeared in Brad's vision, like blinking stars, momentarily blinding him. Where was he? His hands and knees hurt... a glance at the floor showed the trail of blood he'd smeared across the basement floor, from where he landed at the bottom of the steps to where he had regained consciousness some ten yards later.

Delirious, the only thing that drove him onward was his resolve to save Tiff. A coughing fit wracked his body, and he tasted blood in the back of his mouth. Which meant Brit had either made his gums bleed when she punched him in the face, or else she had struck something internal when she pounded him in the chest.

"No!" Brad choked out to no one in particular. He had to keep going. If he focused on his injuries, he'd collapse, and probably die.

And Brit would win.

Throwing himself against the fifth column amongst the endless rows of Brit and Tiff's walk-in-wardrobe archives, Brad craned his neck up and spotted the crate in question; hanging partly off the lip of the shelf, the top already pried off.

Something in the back of his mind told him that this was unusual somehow, but he couldn't focus clearly enough to determine what was wrong about it. He just knew he needed to reach the life-saving Pip crystals held within. Mustering his strength, Brad pulled himself up to his knees, and worked hand over hand to right himself. Just a little further, and he'd be standing, and the crate would be just within reach...

"I'll show you what it's **really** like to lose your virginity." claimed Brit, the saliva-slicked dildo in her hand.

Though she dreaded what was coming next, Tiff couldn't help but be fascinated as she watched Brit hold the dildo over her pubic area and thin metal bands appeared from either side of Brit's hips. The metal attachments moved with a life of their own and grasped the base of the plastic dick, holding it firmly in place against her crotch and giving her the appearance of having sprouted an eight-inch male erection.

Brit stroked her hand over the shaft, pretending to masturbate her new appendage, and whispered in a husky voice "I'm gonna make you my bitch."

Unable to control her own movements, Tiff struggled to squirm away from Brit, but the cybernetically-enhanced Crust easily grabbed hold of Tiff's wrists and held her in place. In moments, the head of the dildo was wedged between Tiff's splayed pussy lips, and Brit had resumed her place atop Tiff in a missionary position.

Holding onto her sanity any way she could, Tiff muttered under her breath "_pleaseBradpleaseBradbeokayplease_" again and again, until Brit picked up what she was saying.

"Are you still holding out hope for that loser?" Brit mocked her cousin, smirking. "I don't suppose you sent him to go grab... this?"

Tiff's eyes went wide, as Brit held up one of the crystals from their prom dresses, this one about the size of a carrot.

"Yes... I'm afraid I had the same idea, my dear girl. After I awoke from my recent 'upgrade', I remembered that the power to crush Jenny had been around all along. Strange that I only remembered about the Pip crystals after my surgery."

Brit got a confused look on her face for a moment, as though she were sorting through conflicting memories or emotions.

"Sadly, I'll have to make due with this solitary crystal... the rest seem to have disintegrated during their long stay in our basement. I'm afraid all Bradly will find down there... _is dust_."

Brit's laughter mixed with Tiff's howl of despair, which became a cry of pain as Brit suddenly pressed forward with her makeshift strap-on and plunged into Tiff's recently deflowered tunnel. All the pain that had been missing from Brad's gentle lovemaking earlier was now brought back as Brit reamed her cousin's pussy, but amazingly it was far from Tiff's mind. All she could think about was Brad.

She had sent him to his death.

He could have tried to get next door, make it to help, have someone call an ambulance. But Brit had second-guessed her plan... Brit had always been the smarter one, why had she even tried?

"I hope it burns you, like it did for me." hissed Brit, pumping her hips against Tiff's groin and grunting with each stroke she made.

Tiff ignored her, tears welling in her eyes and whimpering "_Brad_..."

His muscles ached as he strained, but Brad wouldn't let himself give up. If he could just grab the edge of the crate, all it would take is a little tug to send the whole crate toppling over, and he could help himself to the crystals.

Just... a little... more..

"Errnnn..." he strained, feeling his fingertips hook the edge. Success! Brad tugged, and felt it start to tip over.

...and the world tipped with it. His equilibrium disappearing again, Brad dropped from the shelf in a heap, landing sprawled out on the cold ground.

"Ohhgg..." he groaned, his entire body in agony. A split second later, the teetering crate came crashing down.

directly onto Brad's prone form.

The wood cracked like tinder, dumping their contents all over the poor boy. Piles of crystal dust, like finely ground shards of glass, poured out onto Brad's chest and worked their way into the ragged claw-marks that still hung open on his chest. The minuscule granules of crystal residue felt like salt in his wounds, and Brad experienced a pain unlike anything he had felt in his short lifetime. Fire seemed to race through his veins, and his chest burned with such intensity that his only option left was to scream until unconsciousness claimed him once more.

"Oohhh... unnggmmm... yesss..." Brit groaned, every thrust of her hips grinding the base of the dildo against her pussy and sending surges of pleasure through her hips. Still, it was a fake cock; Tiff had to believe that the majority of Brit's enjoyment was psychological. She hardly cared.

"Oh my," Brit smiled, seeing tears rolling down Tiff's cheeks. "Are you crying?"

Without hesitation, Brit nuzzled the side of Tiff's face and greedily lapped up Tiff's tears.

"Unngg GOD YES!" Brit moaned, adding "Your pain is **delicious**... Like sweet wine!"

Tiff felt the strap-on dildo forced deep into her violated pussy, immediately followed by Brit's body spasming and convulsing on top of her. A splash of warm liquid dripping onto Tiff's labia and asshole confirmed it: Brit had just cum.

Just when Tiff thought her ordeal was over, both girls heard Brad's anguished scream filter up from beneath the floor. Brit's face took on an extatic expression when she realized what they were hearing. Her cheeks flushed, Brit gasped "Ohhh Tiff! I'm going to cum again! Hold me tight... here it comes...! Mmpp!"

"Get the **Fuck** off my **Girlfriend**!" came an angry shout from the doorway.

The Crust cousins, locked in their carnal embrace, both spun their heads to the bedroom door and were shocked to see Brad Carbunkle standing there. How had he ascended two flights of stairs when they had just heard him in the basement, seconds before? Blood still stained his chest and arms, and his legs seemed shaky, but his eyes burned with a renewed inner fire and his voice echoed with force.

"I won't repeat myself." He growled, taking a step forward and raising a fist.

Angered, Brit pulled herself off of Tiff, her fake cock making a wet slurp as it was removed from Tiff's abused cunt.

"You just ruined what was probably going to be my best orgasm ever." Brit snapped, the slick phallus waving obscenely in front of her. With a hiss Brit lunged forward, claws outstretched... and was met with a solid punch to her face.

"Wha...?" Brit gasped, shaking her head and picking herself up off the ground. Brad's punch hadn't done any real damage, but it had knocked her clear across the room. This wasn't possible.

Scrambling, Brit located her Pip crystal laying on the floor and snatched it up. She looked up at Brad's determined, resolute face, and felt her conviction tremble. How had he returned from death's door like this? Nevertheless, Brit could finish Brad off for good right now, claim her prize, and be off to complete her plan for revenge.

She stalked towards Brad much more cautiously this time, feeling the energy contained within the Pip crystal straining to be released... but no, she would save that for Jenny.

The fact that the rest of the crystals had crumbled into useless dust meant that their energy was finite. Immense, but finite. A memory tugged at the back of her consciousness, reminding her of a similar situation... the Halloween party? ...which reminded her that she would need to conserve every possible advantage for her ensuing battle against Jenny. Her bare claws would be more then enough to kill Brad anyway, even revived as he was.

Her predatory gaze locked on the waiting Brad, Brittany Crust failed to notice that Tiff had crept out of bed, and was stealthily making her way across the room.

"Die, human!" screeched Brit, slashing out at Brad. "You cannot stand against the dread might of the Cluster Queen!"

Brad backed away, retreating before Brit's lightning fast strikes. "What are you talking about Brit?!" he demanded, confused, while somehow managing to remain just out of her arm's reach.

He didn't really understand it himself. He felt rather punch-drunk, like Brit and the rest of the world were moving in slow-motion, just enough for him to anticipate each of her swings before they could connect. His opponent snarled out her frustration at not being able to land a successful attack. "What's happened to you Brit?" Brad pressed, "You're acting completely crazy!"

"I'm not **crazy!**" Brit snapped, her eyes going wild. "I fused myself to Vexus, so that I can show you all what's really going on! The truth behind Jennifer Wakeman's lies!"

Brit was ranting now, no longer attacking. Maybe, if Brad provoked her further, she could be disoriented enough for... well, he hadn't gotten that far yet, but he was sure he'd think of something.

Brad relaxed his stance, wanting to keep Brit talking instead of fighting. "Vexus was a tyrannical despot from outer space, we're all better off that she's dead!" he stated, intending to lead Brit's thoughts in a particular direction.

For her part, Brit reacted as Brad had hoped she would, "Vexus isn't dead... she lives on, in me!" she blurted, "...and she understood the threat that XJ-9 represented, what I've been telling you all, all along! Her only mistake was underestimating XJ-9's influence on the humans around her. She only understood the situation physically, not socially. But not this time! _I_ understand... _I've_ got a plan. Before I kill her tomorrow I'm going to utterly **break** her. It will be so sweet to have defeated her physically, mentally, _and_ emotionally."

"...After I finish you off, of course." Brit smiled wickedly, advancing towards Brad.

_Damn,_ Brad thought, _she's becoming lucid again. Gotta stall her. Maybe I can get that crystal from her, or-_

Brit lunged forward again, surprising Brad and seizing him by the shoulders, pinning him against the wall with her immense strength.

"Ung!" Brad grunted, the wind momentarily knocked from his lungs and his chest wound stinging from the impact. Brit watched him suffer, allowing Brad a few seconds to regain his senses.

"It won't work. You'll never be able to get Jenny's friends to abandon her, no matter what dirty tricks you pull." Brad declared, thinking back to how Jenny and he had just made up earlier that evening.

Brit grinned proudly, her razor sharp teeth making Brad nervous.

"It's a little late for that dear... you two are the last support Wakeman has. I've already buried Misty, rewritten Sheldon's programming, and Tuck, well... poor Tuck..."

"What did you do to my **brother?!**" Brad screamed, furious. With a surprising burst of strength, Brad pushed back Brit's metal-coated claws.

Pushed back, but did not completely overcome.

"Gnnhg... I don't know how you got so strong..." growled Brit, her strength overshadowing Brad's and inching her blades back towards Brad's neck. "But I suppose I'll just have to live with never knowing..."

"Hey cuz, check 'dis out!" called Tiff, from across the room. Both Brit and Brad's heads turned to see what Tiff was indicating, but all that was there was the bedroom television set turned on with the volume up. Brad didn't understand, but Brit's face registered a look of profound dread.

"No...!" she gasped, but was powerless to stop Tiff from reaching for the cable wire and forcefully tearing it from the wall, plunging the screen of the television into an field of static so loud it seemed angry.

Screeching, Brit ceased her attempts to kill Brad and flung him in the direction of the television instead, though he sailed clear over it and impacted against the wall behind it. Rushing to his side, Tiff checked Brad and found him barely conscious. She needed to get him to a hospital as soon as possible, or she was sure he'd die from all the blood he had lost. Something else caught her eye as well: the wounds on his chest had almost completely scarred over, and the remaining blood that leaked from them seemed to carry an inherent sparkle, or glow...

When she was finally able to pull her gaze away from the strangely luminescent wounds, Tiff saw that Brit had disappeared, an open window the only sign of her exit. Brad coughed, pulling Tiff's attention back to him.

Weakly, he pleaded to her "Tiff... you've gotta warn Jenny. Before Brit gets to her. You're her only chance..." before passing out, from blood loss or head trauma or something worse, his head lolling onto Tiff's shoulder.

Tiff agonized over what to do next. Brad clearly wanted her to go, alert Jenny or Mrs. Wakeman, anyone who might stand a chance of stopping Brit before she ambushed the heroic teen.

But Tiff knew she didn't have any real choice. She loved Brad, and couldn't leave him. Even if he hated her for it when he woke up, she would get him to Tremorton general hospital first.

Jenny came second.

* * *

"Coming!" Jenny called out, heading to the front door to answer the doorbell. It was rather late for visitors. The only person she could think of that might call on her at this hour was Sheldon, since he was easily worried about her and Jenny's mother didn't mind him staying over once in a while.

Now that she thought of it, Jenny really would like to spend some time with him. After finally achieving a resolution between herself and Brad, Jenny thought it would be nice to get some attention from her current boyfriend instead of wallowing in the past all day. Opening the door, Jenny was pleased to see the hulking frame of the Silver Shell standing there waiting for her.

"Sheldon, come on in!" she greeted, but received only silence in response.

Her smile faded, and she cautiously asked "Shell?"

Sheldon's face was blank, devoid of emotion or recognition. Lumbering like Frankenstein's monster, he lurched his way into Jenny's house, arms outstretched towards her.

"Sheldon? What's wrong?" Jenny asked again, unnerved.

Silver Shell reached out one massive hand, seizing Jenny by her arm and roughly pulling her towards him. His vision trained on her, the Silver Shell finally spoke, all trace of Sheldon's human inflections gone from his voice: "Target confirmed: XJ-9. Execute function: Terminate."


	22. Chapter 22

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 22**_

Grumbling, Nora Wakeman wrung her hands clean on an old oil-stained rag as she mounted the basement stairs. She had been hard at work in the machine-laboratory when violent sounds of fighting came drifting down to her work bench, breaking her concentration and interrupting her work. Not that this was uncommon… When Jenny wasn't tearing up the neighborhood fighting a super-villain, she was causing even worse destruction for the amusement of her friends. Which was why Mrs. Wakeman had built the house as a veritable fortress, incidentally. But it was still annoying to have all that ruckus going on upstairs, and Nora aimed to put a stop to it as soon as possible.

"Mom, get down!" came Jenny's voice as soon as her mother opened the basement door. Nora spotted her robotic daughter peering out from behind the living room couch, waving her arms to grab her attention.

Mrs. Wakeman was far too aggravated to heed her daughter's warning however, placing both hands on her hips, sternly demanding "Just what is going on up here?!"

"Eep!" Nora yelped as an end-table came hurtling through the air, as if to answer her question by narrowly missing her head. The haphazardly tossed piece of furniture impacted out of site with a small crash, and without further hesitation Nora sprinted to take cover behind the couch with Jenny. Ducking down beside her daughter, Mrs. Wakeman took a quick glance around her living room, and saw that it was in shambles. Aghast at the destruction of her well-appointed home, Nora asked "what on Earth is causing all this destruction?"

"It's Sheldon… he's gone crazy!" Jenny answered, shrugging her shoulders to emphasize her confusion. "He came in here acting like the Terminator, then started tearing up the house. He won't even talk to me, he just keeps reciting mindless catch-phrases."

As if to prove her point, Jenny extended a white flag from behind her head until it protruded above the couch and began waving back and forth. Seconds later a sizzling laser blast struck the flag and burned it down to a blackened nub, which Jenny retracted back into her body with a frown.

"Ha, take that, treacherous villain!" came the Silver Shell's voice echoing from elsewhere in the house.

Jenny folded her arms over her chest and shot a look at her mother, adding "See what I mean? I can't even fight back because I'm afraid he might hurt the baby accidentally."

Another loud crash came from elsewhere in the house, this one followed by a crescendo of brittle tinkling sounds. Mrs. Wakeman's mouth fell open with a gasp, "My fine china! Alright, this has gone on long enough!"

Rising, she grabbed Jenny by the hand and pulled her along behind her and walked brazenly into the kitchen to confront the rampaging Silver Shell. "Sheldon, what is the meaning of this?" Nora demanded, seemingly unafraid of the steel giant in front of her.

The Silver Shell turned to orient on the diminutive female scientist, his glare not betraying a hint of human emotion. Jenny noticed that the familiar mannerisms of Sheldon Lee's voice were gone from the robot's artificial timbre, as Silver Shell spoke. "Surrender, alien invader, or face the consequences!" the Silver Shell commanded, though his grandstanding failed to impress Mrs. Wakeman in the slightest.

With a snort, Nora laughed "Invader? _You're_ the one in _my_ house young man."

Having not received the submission he was apparently looking for, Silver Shell's armor plating on his massive shoulders and chest retracted, extruding a veritable arsenal in exotic cannons and dangerous looking mechanical claws. Jenny even heard the buzz of a chainsaw revving up, though she couldn't spot where it was coming from exactly. As the blank-faced robot boy loomed over Nora and advanced menacingly, Silver Shell announced aloud "Commence: Destruction."

"Oh for…" Nora sighed, exasperated. "Override code: Noreen Epsilon Three!"

Instantly, Silver Shell collapsed onto the kitchen floor in an inert heap like a marionette that had its strings cut. Shocked, Jenny rushed to her boyfriend's side to check for injuries. "Mom, what did you do to him?" she asked, failing to see the familiar light in Silver Shell's eyes that indicated consciousness.

"I activated the emergency shutdown override protocol in his programming. You never can be too careful when building self-aware robots armed with high-powered weaponry. Ever since my mistake with Armagedroid, I've included an override command in everything I build." Jenny's mother answered succinctly.

Uneasy with the idea of her mother so cavalierly shutting her down the same way she had just done to Sheldon, Jenny prodded "You mean… _almost_ everything you've built, right?"

For a moment Nora just looked at Jenny with a blank expression, as though she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Then, a smile cracked through and she answered with a nervous chuckle, "Of course. _Almost_ everything. Everything except you, XJ9." Before Jenny had a chance to follow up that thought, Nora pressed "Now help me get your boyfriend here to the lab, I'll need to take a look to see what's causing all this."

* * *

Clutching her pregnant belly, Jenny groaned softly, feeling gears grinding uncomfortably inside her midsection. Lately, these sorts of pains were becoming more and more frequent. Her mother had explained to her that it was just her reproductive systems trying to cope with the injuries she had received from Vexus, and given time they would settle down on their own.

That, or result in a system failure and the miscarriage of her unborn child.

But either way, there wasn't much Jenny could do to change the situation, so Jenny took a seat on a nearby chair and tried to ignore the pain, watching her mother work on Silver Shell's braincase instead.

Mrs. Wakeman was crouched over the upper end of a large work table upon which Silver Shell's inanimate body rested, the skullcap of armor plating surrounding his head pulled back to reveal the delicate electronic brain that housed Sheldon's human mind.

"It seems someone managed to find that remote control for the Silver Shell that had gone missing…" Mrs. Wakeman explained, pulling a tangled mess of circuitry from the motionless superhero's skull, snipping it off in a few places to fully disconnect it from Sheldon's brain. The appearance of the thing made Jenny imagine a big metal spider perched on Sheldon's brain, its legs reaching around to grasp all the connection points where Sheldon's mind sent commands to his various body parts. The idea of having a component like that inside your head made Jenny shiver.

Frowning, Jenny asked "Why didn't you just remove the remote-control adapter when you transferred Sheldon's mind in the first place?"

"It's not an exact science XJ-9, I didn't want to go needlessly mucking about in the boy's head without a good reason. I assumed finding and destroying the remote would be a simple task." Jenny's mother answered gruffly, removing her eyeglasses to clean them on her lab coat.

This whole situation seemed to have Nora more flustered then she would normally allow herself to become. Before she replaced her glasses back on her face, she massaged her temples for a few seconds and centered herself. Taking a breath, she continued. "Anyway, it's done now. Whoever took control of him won't be able to again, though that's not our biggest problem right now."

Nora put the disconnected remote control circuitry aside on a nearby workbench, and launched into full-on lecture mode. "Sheldon wasn't being controlled directly: the remote control was only used to reactivate the dormant Silver Shell personality programming. Which I'm assuming is why he was going on about stopping villainy and all that nonsense. With a few minor tweaks to the programming, the Silver Shell was convinced that you and I were alien threats, and that lethal force was required to stop us. To be honest, I don't know why he spent as much time stomping about making a mess as he did… as soon as he saw _you_, he was supposed to attack with everything he had."

"So why isn't Sheldon awake now?" Jenny asked, growing worried. Seeing Sheldon laid out unconscious on the lab table was bringing back some rather unpleasant memories for her. Not too long ago, she had come painfully close to losing Sheldon for good. At the time he had been one of her best friends; now he was so much more to her then that.

She couldn't bear to go through that again.

"I'm not entirely sure. All his systems are functioning normally, and I'm reading some irregular brain function." Nora offered as she looked over the computer monitors hooked up to Sheldon's inanimate robot body.

Sparing a glance away from her analysis, Nora noticed the upset expression on her daughter's face. Though she didn't have any specific evidence to support it, Nora decided it couldn't hurt to put forward her best current hypothesis.

"It's possible that when the Silver Shell A.I. was reactivated, Sheldon's mind was shunted into some unused memory banks. He could be in there right now, reliving past events in a sort of dream-state."

With some effort, Jenny got up and went to Sheldon's side, taking the Silver Shell's larger hand in her own, giving it a small squeeze to comfort herself. "So, can't you just find Sheldon's mind and reactive it?" Jenny asked, but her mother shook her head.

"That would be like asking me to find the part of the human brain that houses the soul. I can view all his memories and behavioral patterns, but I can't locate his consciousness without being able to directly interact with his mind."

"Then send me in." Jenny said resolutely, rising unsteadily to her feet. She had only a rough idea what she was asking, she recalled being linked to other computers before when her mother was running diagnostics or repairs, and sometimes was able to interface with the machine inside her own mind. Jenny had never interfaced with another sentient robot like this. But she would do anything she could to help Sheldon.

Her mother fixed a stern gaze on Jenny, equal parts strict and regretful for being so. "I'm sorry Jennifer, but I cannot allow you to take such a risk. While it is true that you'd have a better chance of locating Sheldon's mind, I don't think you realize the inherent dangers involved. If you become disoriented, you may not be able to disconnect from Sheldon without damage to one or both of your brains." Closing the distance between them, Jenny's mother placed her hands against Jenny's pregnant belly and softened her tone. "I know you want to help, but you're not just putting your own life on the line anymore. You have a baby to think about. You just don't have that same responsibility to Sheldon, even if you are dating him. Even if you think you _love_ him."

Jenny looked down at the expressionless face of the Silver Shell… Sheldon… the father of her unborn child. Sighing, Jenny sat back down and pulled her mother down to sit beside her.

"Mom," she started, her tone letting her mother know she was about to confess something big, "There's something that I haven't told you. I'd been meaning to, but it was just so personal. And, I hadn't actually told anyone yet so… don't feel like you were excluded or anything."

Nora sat and listened, her expression showing motherly concern. Jenny blushed a little, trying to find the right words but failing. Instead, she opened a small compartment in her chest and reached inside, pulling a small object out of one of her storage spaces.

For a few minutes the two Wakeman ladies sat in silence, watching Jenny toy with the little sleek black case in her left palm.

Finally, wordlessly, Jenny opened the case and pulled out a small hoop of gold metal, and fitted it over her left ring finger. As soon as the plain looking ring was placed fully onto Jenny's finger, it emitted a small _click_ to lock itself snugly in position and draw a minuscule fraction of power from the circuitry in Jenny's hand. Before their eyes, the gold band sprouted a shimmering, glowing gem unlike any Nora Wakeman had seen in her long and experienced life. The softly luminescent gemstone was a complex polyhedron in shape, and tinted the same baby blue as Jenny's hair.

Nora softly gasped "Oh my," as she watched the gemstone suddenly blossom like a rose filmed in time-lapse photography. As the form of the ring folded over onto itself and dimmed into a rich green hue, it eventually found a new shape just as intricate as the first. In the dimly lit basement lab, the iridescence from the ring was enough to bath the entire room in its soft light, lending Jenny and everything else in sight its vibrant colors.

"Jenny, that's lovely." Nora said reverently, watching the hologram rotate into a star shape and take on a rose colored glow. Nora's momentary shock subsided, and she began to understand what she was seeing. The "ring" was probably an ingeniously miniaturized projector for the holographic "gem".

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Jenny corrected her. "Sheldon said the patterns were based on fractal programs, so I'd never get exactly the same shape twice. The colors depend on the energy currents running through my hand, so it works like a mood-ring for robots."

As breathtaking as the ring was, Nora was not so distracted that she didn't understand what it represented. "So, when did Sheldon propose to you?"

Jenny continued to stare at the engagement ring, answering "A couple of weeks ago."

Nora waited for more, but evidently her daughter was not in a very forthcoming mood. "And what was your answer?" she gently prodded.

Jenny remained motionless, but the hue of the ring gradually shifted to a somber violet. Nora picked up on the meaning, responding with a distant "oh."

"I… I know that I love him mom." Jenny stated, her voice threatening to crack. Jenny's gaze bore into the shifting engagement ring, which warped itself from its purple trapazohedron shape into a silvery spiral, then muted into a dull crimson double-pyramid. Jenny refused to look away from its hypnotic transmutations, even when her mother placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, though the casual contact did spur her to continue. "I didn't feel like I could say yes yet… I just needed some time to figure some things out first, you know? But now, Sheldon could be at death's door again, and…"

Jenny coughed loudly to clear her choking throat, casually wiping away moisture gathering on her eyelids.

"It's the pain from the baby." Jenny offered lamely, wondering why she made up such an obvious lie as soon as it left her mouth.

"I know I love him, that much is easy by now. But I can't figure out why he loves **me**."

Jenny's attention was no longer on the ever-changing hologram on her finger. In fact, she now seemed to be purposely avoiding looking at it, as if the sight of it was painful for her.

"Since the day I met him I've turned down his advances more times then I can count, dated other boys, very nearly gotten him killed more then once… and his devotion for me never wavered. How can he have such unconditional love for me, when I've given him every reason to treat me like dirt?"

"It seems impossible, it's true." Mrs. Wakeman agreed.

Jenny pulled her legs up against her body protectively, no small feat for a girl as pregnant as she was.

Nora smiled slightly as Jenny rested her heavy head on the shoulder of the much smaller woman.

"These emotions will seem like less of a mystery soon enough though. That is one of the benefits of becoming a parent: you come to understand a whole new level of love you could scarcely realize existed before. You should count yourself lucky that you've encountered a boy capable of such affection for you. Most girls… most _women_… never meet such a match as that."

"Did you ever meet someone like that?" Jenny asked her mother, making Nora frown slightly.

With a sigh, Nora replied "I once thought I may have, but… no."

"Then how can you tell me Sheldon isn't worth the risk?"

For that, Mrs. Wakeman had no answer. Instead, she tried to redirect the argument.

"It's not that I don't like Sheldon, XJ-9, quite the contrary. Since he became my protégé over the summer I even came to think of him like a son, but…" but Nora fell silent when she caught sight of the pleading expression on Jenny's face.

The debate had ended.

Jenny looked so honestly desperate to convince her that Mrs. Wakeman didn't feel she could continue to argue any longer.

"Fine then. Go lay down next to Sheldon on the worktable." Nora said with a frown, grudgingly collecting the necessary wires and connectors to hook Jenny's mind up to the Silver Shell's. She may not have been able to dissuade her daughter, but Mrs. Wakeman could still offer what limited advice she had.

"The environment you'll be sifting through is Sheldon's accumulated memories, so it may look and feel essentially like Tremorton. As seen through Sheldon's eyes, at least. Try not to interact with the memories too much, or you may end up altering them permanently. If you can, try to contact me through the lab computer: I've already linked Sheldon's brain to the mainframe, so getting in touch with me is just a matter of finding the connection point hidden within the illusions of Sheldon's subconscious."

"Be careful Jenny. And good luck." Her mother added, attaching alligator clamps to each of Jenny's hair-bolts.

"I will mom. And thanks." Jenny said, shutting her eyes. She had little idea what to expect, but she was nothing if not adaptable. At least she would get a small break from the discomfort of being pregnant. Jenny's thoughts became less and less coherent, and she felt as though she were simply falling asleep.

* * *

"Jennifer Wakeman, you've outdone yourself once again!" Jenny announced aloud to no one in particular, gently tapping out a miniscule dent on her shop class midterm project. All the other students had theirs arranged in a row to be graded, but all their cobbled together lamps and crude sculptures would pale in comparison to Jenny's scale model replica. "Your quarter-scale die-cast alloy figure of fandom's favorite super-hero… Captain Crush! You're sure to _crush_ the competition!"

Jenny felt immensely proud of her achievement, enough to bring tears to her eyes. As she casually wiped away the moisture from her long eyelashes, she sighed wistfully "Oh Captain… if only you could fly!"

Jenny's happiness was abruptly halted by the intrusion of the voice of Leta, one of Tremorton High's many bullies and one that enjoyed picking on Jenny in particular.

"Heheheh, _we_ can make him _fly!_" she laughed, snatching up the model that Jenny had worked so hard on and tossing it into the air, only to be caught by one of her snickering cronies.

"Captain! My Captain!" cried Jenny, her arms outstretched for her figurine.

Leta grabbed hold of the smaller, weaker girl before she could retrieve her treasured Captain Crush. "Jenny, we gotta talk shop…" Leta stated, hoisting Jenny into the air in a threatening gesture "… shop homework, that is!"

"N-no problem…" Jenny stammered, afraid of the beefy Leta. As was customary at this school, doing the bully's homework for her was the price Jenny paid to avoid getting beaten up… most of the time. "I've got it right here. Y'see? Your pop-can lamps are all.."

"Gimme!" snapped Leta, snatching the recycled lamps from Jenny's hand before she'd even finished taking them out of her backpack.

"…done." Jenny finished, "I even put heavy-duty batteries on them, in the event that you wanted to swing them around in a reckless fashion."

Leta smiled. "Heavy duty eh? Hnnh. I like the way you think." she commended, raising Jenny's hopes.

"Really?" Jenny asked. Sure, she didn't really like Leta, but it's not like she really had any other friends either, so she'd take what she could get.

Leta paused, just long enough to let Jenny believe she might finally have found some measure of popularity, then barked "…**NO**!!"

Within minutes, the helpless Jenny Wakeman was being tossed into the air just as her prized Captain Crush model was.

"Here, over here, toss one to me!" called one of shorter bullies, as the trio gleefully tossed Jenny back and forth in a game of keep-away. The smaller bully was distracted from his amusement by the intrusion of a new voice.

"Excuse me, I need to speak to the young lady you're terrorizing…?" asked the stranger, a robotic student that the bully recognized from around the hallways of Tremorton high. He was supposed to be some kinda super-hero… the Silver Shell, or something like that.

Unconcerned with the robot's request, the stumpy student refocused his attention on his game, shouting "Me, me, toss one to me!"

Growing annoyed, the Silver Shell casually reached and arm up and snatched the Captain Crush figurine out of midair, ending the bullies' game. "…As I was saying: I have a screw loose." He explained, now speaking to the leader of the gang, Leta.

"No kidding," Leta growled back, "Now do yourself a favor and get outta here!" The Silver Shell noticed that this bully had a hold of Jenny Wakeman, the local robotics nerd that he had come to see about his injury.

"..h-h-hellllp…" the red-headed girl squeaked, not even bothering to struggle in the much stronger Leta's grip.

"You say something?" Leta demanded from the smaller girl in her grasp. A tap on her shoulder caused the bulky bully to spin around and face the Silver Shell, which was all the distraction the robot needed to release Jenny from her torment by extending an arm around to Leta's opposite side and hoisting the smaller human free.

"You alright?" Silver Shell asked Jenny politely, putting her down gently on the ground.

Jenny nodded meekly, mumbling "Un-hunh".

The Silver Shell frowned as his attention was diverted back to the bullies again, their high-powered lamps turned on him to produce an annoying glare. They swung the batteries around menacingly, clearly intended to be used as potential weapons against him. "Excuse me Jenny, I have to go _unplug_ somebody's _socket_." He said ominously, and advanced on the bullies.

Jenny watched happily as the Silver Shell made short work of her tormentors, feeling immensely grateful towards the heroic teen. He was quite a looker too; Jenny had inherited her mother's fascination with robots at an early age, but she'd never imagined one could be so… perfect.

Jenny wondered if a robot like him could ever be interested in a human girl like her.

Once Silver Shell finished giving the bullies their just desserts, he stepped over to Jenny and asked "So, Jenny, could you give me a hand?" while taking Jenny's hand in his own and displaying a minor injury on his elbow.

Jenny's heart skipped a beat. A boy was holding her hand! And a cute, robot boy at that… music began playing inside Jenny's mind, the rest of the world seeming to fade away as she felt herself develop her first real crush…

"Let go of her, you creep!" came a shout from elsewhere in the room, causing Jenny and Silver Shell to gasp. Turning to see the source of the interruption, Jenny spotted a thin, nerdy looking boy she knew as Sheldon Lee.

She felt as though she knew him from somewhere… but wasn't this the first time they had met?

This… this was their first meeting… this had all happened before! Jenny staggered from a massive sense of Déjà vu, releasing the Silver Shell's hand from her own.

"Jenny, you came to rescue me!" said Sheldon, rushing over to her side and helping Jenny keep herself upright.

That's right. She was here to rescue Sheldon… their brains were hooked up right now, and she was caught up in the memory of their first meeting back in shop class. Only, things had gotten reversed: this time Silver Shell was the one who had been injured, and Jenny was the nerdy human girl who developed a crush on him. The Silver Shell looked none to pleased that someone else was distracting Jenny from fixing his arm. Even as he reached out from Sheldon to remove the offending human, the injury in the Silver Shell's right elbow creaked in protest at his aggressive movement, and the gigantic robot clutched his arm in pain.

"Come on Jenny, we've got to get out of here!" Sheldon said hurriedly, taking advantage of the Silver Shell's momentary distraction. Pulling Jenny along by her hand, Sheldon rushed them both out of the room and pushed them through the classroom doorway. On the other side, however, was anything but the familiar hallways of Jenny's highschool. Instead, it looked like she was in Mezmer's malt shop. Sheldon pulled her into a corner booth, allowing Jenny a minute to orient herself and try to figure out what was going on.

"Where are we Sheldon?" she asked, looking around. She noticed a handful of familiar faces, although no-one seemed to notice her in return. Sheldon looked over his shoulder at the shop's patrons suspiciously, speaking in a low voice to avoid being overheard.

"We just hopped memories. I took us to the memory of your date with Don Prima that I inadvertently helped arrange. You know, when Don and I got into a fight over you? I've been hiding out here for a while before you showed up, it should be relatively safe."

Jenny started, "Safe from what?"

"From the Silver Shell. Or the A.I. that encompasses the Silver Shell personality that I programmed into the robot. It's been making its way through my mind, trying to erase, well, me. My consciousness."

"I think the computer sees me as being a weakness in the system, something that needs to be purged. I've been able to avoid him so far, so instead he's been selectively editing all my memories, erasing me from them and replacing them with himself. He'll get through them all eventually, and when that happens I'll still exist but... I'll basically be lobotomized, so the A.I. can live my life for me." Sheldon explained, looking extremely worn out.

Jenny looked around Mezmer's again, starting to understand. In fact, over on the opposite side of the shop she spotted Don Prima, the Silver Shell, and… herself! Or, the regular metal robot XJ9 anyway.

Which brought up another question: why wasn't she her usual robotic self? Instead, she was flesh and blood, with red hair and fair Celtic skin and a pleasant blue sun dress. Come to think of it, this was pretty much the same as she had looked back when she wore her upgraded human exo-skin. At least, before it tried to take over her life.

"The easiest were memories where I was wearing the Silver Shell armor. Very little needed to be changed, so they hardly took any time at all. After that were any memories I had of the two of us, I guess maybe because he expected you to come try to rescue me like this. So while he's been preoccupied replacing my memories with his own version, I've been hiding out in the ones he's already finished with."

"Sheldon, why am I human here?" Jenny asked bluntly, examining herself.

"I'm not quite sure." Sheldon answered, touching his hand to his chin in thought. "I had figured that in my own case, it just reflected that I never stopped thinking of myself as a human trapped in a robot body. In my subconscious, I'm still Sheldon Lee: nerdy, awkward human teenager."

"But as for you… maybe because when you first entered my memories, you took on a role that Silver Shell had edited you into: in my shoes, admiring him, instead of the other way around?"

Jenny shrugged. In any other situation, she would have been happy to explore what it was like to have a human body for a while, but at the moment there were more important things to think about.

Turning back to Sheldon, she asked "So if you're hiding from Silver Shell, why can't he see us now?" while pointing across the room at the Silver Shell attempting to sabotage Jenny and Don's date, exactly as Jenny remembered it happening.

Well, not exactly as she remembered. Jenny remembered Don being a lot less _obnoxious_ then she was seeing right now. And she didn't think she was as pretty as Sheldon's memory portrayed her, either. Certainly her skin hadn't been _that_ pure white, or her hair that blue.

"That Silver Shell isn't the actual Silver Shell A.I." Sheldon explained, distracting Jenny from her musings. "That's just the memory of himself, the same as how that Jenny over there isn't you, the _real_ Jenny. As long as we don't interact with them, the memory-figments should just ignore us, and play out the memory as I remember it… or as the A.I. edited it."

"But why is this happening at all? It's your brain, can't you just shut down the Silver Shell, and wake up?" Jenny asked, still confused.

"It's not my mind Jenny. It's his."

"I'm the intruder here, I high-jacked his electronic brain and put my own mind into his blank memory banks. Originally my mind was installed in the brain as a super-user of this computer system, sort of like an Admin of a computer network. And the A.I. just went dormant, since I'd taken over all its functions."

"But something's changed that, I've been demoted in my own mind, so I can only make small changes. And something reactivated the A.I. system. Now it's using my life as a template for its own."

Jenny noticed that Sheldon was slumped in his seat, his eyes turned down to the table. His body language told her that Sheldon was tired, or worse, had lost the will to fight back against what was happening. She couldn't imagine what could make him want to give up possession of his own mind, but she needed to snap him out of it.

Across the room from them, she spotted her mechanical self heading for the ladies' room. Meanwhile, the memories of Silver Shell and Don Prima were fighting, arguing over her in her absence.

"Hmm, Sheldon, could you take us to the last memory you had before all this happened? Maybe that will give us a clue to start from." Jenny said, her mind starting to puzzle things out. If she could see what had started the Silver Shell A.I. on this rampage through Sheldon's brain, then perhaps her mom could isolate the problem and correct it.

Jenny stood up from her seat, and forcibly helped Sheldon to his feet as well. "Come on Sheldon, it's time for a trip down memory lane…" she quipped, but stopped short when the roof of the malt shop suddenly had a large hole torn in it.

Right, the metal-eating fly! Jenny remembered now. As she watched, Silver Shell tackled the mutant fly, then proceeded to brandish it like a weapon towards Don Prima. Don dodged the squirt of metal-dissolving digestive juices that Silver Shell aimed at Don's shoes, retorting, "What's your malfunction, lug-nuts? If it's that robot chick you're after, you can have her. She's nothing special."

Don's words cut deep into Jenny's pride. He had really said that? Jenny remembered that she eventually ended the date because of Don's obsessive interest in his expensive shoes, and her attraction to the popular boy had ended entirely shortly thereafter. So she shouldn't _really_ care what he thought of her, but…

"You take that back! Take it back!" shouted Silver Shell angrily, defending Jenny's honor.

"Awww… that's so sweet." Jenny sighed involuntarily. Sheldon had always been looking out for her, even when she wasn't aware of it.

"Not that you noticed at the time" grumbled Sheldon bitterly, his voice low.

Did that still bother him, after all this time? In this particular case he was right, of course; any minute now, the memory of XJ-9 would emerge from the ladies room and catch Don and the Silver Shell fighting, misinterpret the situation, and berate Sheldon for being a poor friend. In light of this new information, Jenny didn't particularly want a replay of how she had reacted that evening, so she hurried herself and Sheldon out of the front door and into a different memory.

Jenny and Sheldon found themselves out in downtown Tremorton during the day, though Jenny couldn't place what specific memory this represented.

"This is the last thing you remember?" she asked Sheldon, who nodded and lead them off the main street.

"Well, about here is where I lost track of things. I remember following some strange urge to fly to this alley, and then… nothing." Ducking into a seemingly empty alleyway, the two teens hid behind some stacked trash containers to watch the memory play it's self out.

Within moments, a whir of jet engines powering down and the crash of metal on pavement announced the arrival of Silver Shell. This memory being more recent, probably only a day or two old, Jenny inferred that this Silver Shell was no longer an armor worn by the human Sheldon, but a robot host for Sheldon's disembodied mind.

As the scene unfolded before them, Silver Shell seemed to be struggling with each step he took, fighting against himself as he lurched into the alleyway past Jenny's hiding spot. He seemed to be under some form of mind control, but who was doing the controlling? Once clearly out of sight of the people on the street, Jenny got her answer.

Out of the shadows of the back alley stepped Brit Crust, Jenny's longtime rival.

Jenny had heard that Brit had experienced some sort of emotional breakdown at the Halloween party, even threatening Tuck's life. But Jenny had her own problems to deal with at the time, and by the time she was capable of searching for her, Brit was long gone. That was well over a month ago now… where had Brit been during all that time? Whatever had happened, she was back now, and apparently at the root of some new scheme to cause problems for Jenny.

"That's a good little toy soldier." Brit teased the helpless Silver Shell, brandishing the Silver Shell's remote control like a weapon. Jenny had no clue how Brit had gotten a hold of _that_, but it did explain how she had brainwashed Sheldon.

Trembling with restrained aggression, Silver Shell grunted and managed to bring his right arm up towards Brit in a hostile gesture.

"Now now, there will be none of that." Brit chided, tapping a few commands into the remote that forced Silver Shell to lower his arm to his side. Subdued, Silver Shell could do nothing to resist as Brit sauntered up to the much larger boy and leaned herself affectionately against his chest. Brit playfully tickled under Silver Shell's chin with the tips of her fingers, teasingly telling him "It's a shame I have to destroy you, Sheldon, but you're too much of a threat to be allowed to live. But at least you'll be able to perform a valuable service or two for me first."

What Jenny saw next made her grit her teeth and growl. With a few more casual taps at Silver Shell's remote, Brit forced Jenny's boyfriend down onto his knees, then forward onto all fours like an animal.

Brit giggled at the power she wielded over her rival's mate.

"Now bark for me." The sadistic teen girl commanded, and clapped with delight when Silver Shell reluctantly complied. Getting a little more creative, Brit punched a few additional commands into the remote, and told Silver Shell: "Now, repeat after me…"

As she said each line, the Silver Shell dutifully parroted the same phrase back to Brit Crust. "Jenny Wakeman is an overweight, chalk-skinned bitch with lame hair and a smelly gas leak."

"Ah! _Shel-don!_" Jenny exclaimed, aghast to hear those words come from her boyfriend's mouth, even given the circumstance.

"It's not my fault!" he yelped, defending himself.

Well, yeah, but that didn't make it any nicer for Jenny to hear. Settling down, Jenny resumed watching.

"Excellent, my shiny new toy." Brit praised, "And who is the prettiest, sexiest, best dressed girl in all of Tremorton?"

Silver Shell grunted, saying nothing. He had seemingly found new will to resist Brit's mental control.

Brit did not _like _being resisted.

"What's that?" she insisted sarcastically, grabbing hold of a knob on Shell's remote. "I can't quite hear you. Perhaps I'd best turn up the volume!"

With a flick of her wrist, Brit left the Silver Shell doubled over in pain. Jenny wasn't quite sure what Brit was doing (or, had done) to her boyfriend, but she did know just how badly certain systems could hurt when they were short-circuited or otherwise abused. An intense headache might be comparable, from what Brad had once told Jenny, if one replaced the description of "dull pounding" with "precise acid-burn". Jenny hadn't thought her loathing for Brit Crust could have grown any more intense, but she was proved wrong by Brit's next act.

"Now, I'll ask _again._" Brit stated coldly, "Who is the sexiest girl in Tremorton?"

"Y-you are…

…You are the sexiest, Brit."

Brit sneered, unsatisfied thanks to Sheldon's earlier attempt at resistance. "More." She demanded in no uncertain terms.

A momentary look of blank confusion passed the Silver Shell's features, until an impatient gesture from Brit urged him on. "Uhm… You have the, the… the prettiest eyes I've ever seen! And a… a great personality!"

"Try **harder**." Sheldon's tormentor warned, reaching again for the remote.

"You've got a great set of perky, full breasts!" Sheldon cried out in desperation, willing to say anything to avoid another jolt to his central nervous system.

Brit smirked a little, finally interested. "Go on," she encouraged, sticking out a hip to affect a more feminine posture.

"Well, you've got plump, luscious lips. And you can make men melt with a look!" Sheldon praised, his ingenuity at coming up with more creative descriptions making him even a little enthusiastic. "And you've got legs like a supermodel, and a tight little body that just screams 'sex'! And you've got an ass that doesn't quit!"

Brit's ears seemed to perk up on that last one, giving her a wicked grin. "You like my ass, eh?" she prodded, waltzing up closer to the kneeling Silver Shell with remote in hand. Turning around suddenly, Brit undid the front of her pants and pulled them down to mid-thigh, mooning Silver Shell right in the face.

"How about giving it a kiss then?" Brit taunted Sheldon as she waved her well-tanned buttocks in his face, knowing he really had no choice in the matter. Slapping one taut cheek and giving her athletic buns a quick jiggle, Brit added "right here, on my left. Kiss my ass, robot."

"Oh, that's just degrading!" Jenny complained, angry at what Brit had forced Sheldon to endure. What was even more frustrating was that Jenny was powerless to stop it, seeing as all this had already occurred some time ago.

Wanting to get the humiliation over with quickly, Sheldon closed his eyes and pressed his face forward, giving Brit her requested peck on her left ass cheek.

Giggling from the contact, Brit arched her back further and demanded "again, on the other side now!" to which Sheldon unhappily complied. Brit cackled with glee, seeming to lose herself in the moment. "Now the middle!" she insisted, rolling her hips and further arching her back until her lightly fuzzed womanhood was displayed prominently in Sheldon's face.

When he hesitated, Brit looked over her shoulder at him. "Come on… plant a kiss right there on my split peach. A long wet one… I want to feel that silver tongue of yours tickling my pink as deep as you can get it."

As Silver Shell extended his tongue from his mouth and gradually leaned forward to french kiss Brit Crust's increasingly excited cunt, Brit pushed her ass back against her new sex slave impatiently. Brit shuddered with pleasure as her damp girlflesh was penetrated by Shell's outthrust tongue, a faintly audible _squelch_ following as her inner vaginal muscles squeezed down around the invading member and squirted a dollop of clear pussy-juice in Sheldon's face.

Silver Shell couldn't see anything but Brit's brown little ass, was only bothering to lightly wiggle his tongue, and was thankful that his robot body didn't need to breathe. Still, Brit didn't seem to much mind. She sighed and moaned as she ground the spread lips of her sex against Sheldon's open mouth, smearing her warm lube all over the abused boy's face and pouring even more down his gullet. Brit was pumping her hungry snatch up and down over Silver Shell's protruding tongue as though it were a small unusually shaped silver dildo, working it as deep as it would go and twisting her hips about on it to worth her pussy up into a froth of sexual excitement.

When her hand reached between her legs to begin frantically pawing at her swollen clitoris, Sheldon knew Brit was close to her climax. "Mmmhhh!" Brit sighed, biting her bottom lip. In a voice much more shrill then normal, Brit commanded "Open wide, robot! I feel especially _wet_ today, and it's about _to cuuu-UUMMM!_" her voice squeaked out into an unintelligible series of gasps and whines.

Brit's thighs and rump trembled as her orgasm sparked through every muscle in her abdomen, making her clit twitch between her fingertips and her cunt clench spasmodically, wringing a river of her honey-like girl cum from her pink inner tissues and flowing out into Sheldon's submissive mouth. When the last tremors finally left her, Brit pulled away from Sheldon and wiped away the few feeble strands of fluid connecting Sheldon's lips to Brit's lower pair.

After Brit pulled her pants back up, she surprisingly leaned down and embraced Sheldon, drawing him into her arms and planting a deep kiss on Silver Shell's mouth. At first Jenny was confused by this sudden show of tenderness from Brit. But it made more sense when she saw the swallowing motions in Brit's throat. As she tongue-wrestled Jenny's boyfriend, Brit was greedily drinking down every drop of cunt cream that she had just spilled into Silver Shell's mouth!

After what seemed like much to long, Brit broke the kiss and pulled away from Silver Shell, wiping away some stray wetness with the back of her hand and joking "It's a good thing at least one of us swallows!"

Jenny was fuming now. Brit crust had raped her man! She couldn't imagine many girls had ever been in her position. Jenny grabbed onto the real Sheldon sitting next to her, making herself feel a little better with the idea that she could at least keep _this_ Sheldon safe from Brit's depredations.

"Don't worry Sheldon, the next time I see Brit, she's going to **pay**." She promised.

Sheldon didn't seem quite as offended, and offered "you know, I don't actually remember any of this, and the Silver Shell isn't really my original body either, so it's more like Brit had sex with a really advanced sex doll."

Purring, Brit circled around the Silver Shell until she was behind him, leaning over his broad shoulders. "Thanks for the quickie, tin man. I'd offer to get your rocks off for you too, but I'm afraid I have some more work for you to attend to."

Using the remote control and her own hands, Brit pried open the inner circuitry in Silver Shell's braincase for her inspection, which she went to work on with far greater skill and knowledge then Jenny would ever have given Brit Crust credit for.

"This is wrong… since when is Brit such a computer expert?" Jenny whispered to Sheldon. Nothing _seemed_ different about Brit. She was the same high school student that Jenny remembered, her hair had even grown back to its former length. But even if she had spent the past month doing nothing but learning about robotics, Jenny still doubted Brit would have been capable of effortlessly rewiring Sheldon's brain like this. So why were robots and programming now second nature to her?

Finished, Brit sealed up the Silver Shell's open access panels and gave him a command. "Now go, you big lumbering distraction! Go terrorize the Wakemans, kill them if you can. I'll be watching." Brit slapped Silver Shell's ass to get him moving, and in short order the enslaved superhero was flying in the direction of Jenny's house.

Jenny had seen enough. "Ok Sheldon, we found the source of the problem. Let's contact my mom, and find out what we can do to fix this."

"I'm sorry Jenny, but I've done all that I can from here." Mrs. Wakeman conceded.

"What? But you said once I located his consciousness… then..." Jenny stammered.

Jenny could see her mother shake her head on the viewscreen they were communicating through. Or, the memory of a viewscreen at least.

In order to get in touch with Mrs. Wakeman, Jenny and Sheldon had explored Sheldon's subconscious until they found the memory of the Cluster invasion. Jenny hadn't known it, being busy trying to escape from Cluster Prime at the time, but it was during that incident that Sheldon had first collaborated with Jenny's mother, and had first seen the inside of her lab.

There were no cameras into Sheldon's mind though, so the viewscreen was only one way: Jenny's mother could hear Sheldon and herself, but she wouldn't be able to see the human forms they currently wore.

"I said that I couldn't locate Sheldon's consciousness without interfacing with his mind." Nora answered, from back in the real lab. "Now you've located him, but… I still can't return his mind into a position of dominance over the computer brain. Only a user such as Sheldon himself can do that. But I can give you some information that may help: Right now the Silver Shell A.I. is making its way through Sheldon's memories of your little Christmastime 'adventure', when you were controlled by that spoiled little rich boy into ruining the year's various holidays. So you have some time to work out a plan before the A.I. reaches you."

Jenny sighed a little in relief, but knew the pressure was still on. She needed to come up with a plan to save Sheldon, and soon. Normally when there was a problem, Jenny could count on her strength and a little improvisation to see her through. But in this case they were fighting… information? It's not like she could just punch the A.I.'s self-diagnostic program and make everything better.

"Whatever you work out, try to do it as quickly as possible." Jenny's mom continued, "We have problems back out here in the real world too."

"Brit." Jenny agreed succinctly, already guessing.

Nora seemed surprised, asking "How did you know?"

"Just one of the clues I was able to turn up in Sheldon's memories. She's the one responsible for reactivating the Silver Shell A.I. and sending it after me. How did _you_ know?"

"We have a visitor." Nora answered, stepping aside so that Jenny could see past her. Looking none to pleased to be there was Tiff Crust, her arms folded over her chest gruffly. Stepping back into view without blocking Tiff, Nora continued. "She just got back from taking Brad to the hospital. He's doing ok, but the doctors are still checking for anything serious. It seems that last night, they were attacked at Tiff's house shortly after your visit there."

Jenny was aghast. She knew Brit was out to get her, and even that she had gotten crazy enough to attempt to have Jenny killed, but she was still shocked to hear that Brit would actually attack Brad, and even her own cousin Tiff, with her bare hands.

"Why would Brit do something like that?" Jenny asked aloud.

"From what Tiffany here tells me, it seems Brittany has managed to combine herself with Vexus' remains somehow. So I'm willing to consider the idea that the poor girl may be under the control of the Cluster. On the other hand, I saw her at that party, even talked to her… it may be that she has simply completely lost her mind."

Jenny said nothing, taking a moment to process this information. If Brit was able to take on any of Vexus' powers or abilities, it made her a much more dangerous opponent.

"It gets worse," Jenny's mother continued, as if she could read her daughter's thoughts "Brit also has a Pip crystal."

"That is worse." Jenny agreed, gulping.

"We have no way of knowing when Brit may strike, but if she's already showing her hand by sending in Sheldon as a first wave, then it'll probably be soon." Nora added, looking pensive. "I've already alerted the authorities, and they've evacuated everyone from the surrounding homes. Unfortunately, because **you** are the skyway patrol's standard response to super-villains of this magnitude, their regulations say that you're meant to handle the situation on your own. Obviously I told them that that was rubbish, given your condition, but the paperwork to account for your "maternity leave" will probably take days for them to finish. So it's up to us."

Jenny frowned, but was not intimidated.

"All the more reason why I'll need to get Sheldon back on his feet then." She stated flatly.

Her mother nodded solemnly, agreeing. "I'll see what reinforcements I can scrounge up from around here. Good luck."

Mrs. Wakeman terminated the communication, turning to speak to Tiff Crust behind her.

Nora tried to maintain a cool head, but Tiff could see the stress starting to form cracks in her calm demeanor. Tiff felt a little awkward; here she was at the epicenter of all the action, but didn't have much she could do to help.

If it was even wanted.

Even though she no longer felt much animosity towards Jenny thanks to her relationship with Brad, she wasn't sure if Jenny or Jenny's family felt the same way about her. And speaking of Brad, Tiff felt she had already been away from the hospital for too long. She really should head back there now, to check on him.

Fidgeting, Tiff offered, "Listen, I ain't doin' much here. If I'm in your way or sumthin', I can…"

"…stay and help?" Mrs. Wakeman finished hopefully. "Excellent. I going to get as many security precautions up and running as soon as possible, but I still need someone to keep an eye on Jenny and Sheldon until they wake up." Before Tiff could protest, Nora was already heading on her way. "Just watch those monitors there and come get me if anything unusual happens. Back in a jiffy!"

"Aw, crap." Tiff complained aloud, to no one in particular.

Pulling up a stool from a nearby lab bench, Tiff took a seat and stared up at the blinking computer readouts measuring the two robot teens' health. With only the two unconscious robots to keep her company, Tiff was starting to feel like she was in the eye of the storm: a momentary calm while everything around her was being torn to pieces, and it was only a matter of time before the storm came for her too.

Upstairs, Nora scrambled the house's perimeter defenses. The whole building was one big panic room, in a way, with some extra levels of security for keeping the basement lab locked up tight. Nora mentally went through the checklist in her mind: first she would lock all the doors and windows, which were reinforced with steel plating of course, then she'd activate the perimeter motion sensors and cameras to keep Brit from taking them by surprise, then she could set-

"oh!" Nora yelped, nearly jumping off the ground at the sound of the doorbell ringing. Which was only natural, she supposed, being as tense as she was right now.

Was Brit Crust here already, come to kill Jenny and her baby? No, that wouldn't make sense; why bother ringing the doorbell? Cautiously, Nora Wakeman crept up to the front door and leaned in close, peered through the peephole to see who it was. The answer was even more surprising than if it _had_ been Brit.

"Phineas Mog?" Nora exclaimed, perplexed as to why her longtime scientific rival was on her doorstop. He looked like he hadn't slept in a couple of days. Or at least, hadn't slept _well_.

"Noreen! I must speak with you, it's urgent!" he insisted from the opposite side of the door, waving his arms frantically.

Whatever trivial crisis he was facing was certainly nothing compared to the menace of Brit Crust's imminent arrival. "Go away Mog." Nora warned in an irritated tone of voice, "Get as far away from here as you can, there is deadly danger headed for this house!"

"I know!" Mog exclaimed, close to panicking, "And I may be responsible for unleashing the Crust girl on you all!"

Nora flung the front door wide, her expression stern. "What?"

Looking sheepish, Mog chuckled and fidgeted nervously. "I… I was the one who affixed the dead alien's components onto that Crust girl. I didn't know it would turn into all this. But! But I have good news as well." Fishing about in his lab coat pocket, Mog produced a small object and handed it to Nora. On first inspection, it looked like a simple, rather small dagger-like weapon. Nora adjusted her thick spectacles and peered closer at the device, spotting intricate circuitry all along the "blade". It did not take a scientist of her caliber to figure out that the haft of the blade would similarly house a sophisticated electronic device of some kind. Before she could puzzle out the device's purpose, Mog saved her the trouble.

"It's a killswitch program. Before I reactivated the dormant programming in the repaired remains of the robotic Cluster alien, I made sure I would have a failsafe method of aborting the project if it proved to be dangerous."

Nora quirked an eyebrow, "And?"

Mog sighed, answering "I'm not the spry young man I once was Noreen. This killswitch is simple so there's not a lot that can go wrong, but it does still require someone to activate it: namely, by piercing the outer shell of the creature with the "blade". I tried to do just that when the cyborg began rampaging through my lab, but I hadn't planned for the possibility of being physically overwhelmed. I barely escaped with my life."

Nora was attempting to weigh her options as best she could, but was feeling a bit overwhelmed herself. Mog and she had a long and colorful history, their relationship ranging from rivals in university to collaborators in the Skyway Patrol to nowadays, where they might best be described as contemporaries who kept a particularly critical eye on each others' work.

But in all that she never would really have said that she trusted him. Could this be some sort of ploy… perhaps Mog was even conspiring with Brit, or at least working for her? By his own admission, he had been the one who fused her with the remains of the Cluster tyrant.

But then, why did Mog look so scared? Nora could see his eyes darting about, though trying not to seem too obvious about it, as if he expected someone to sneak up and attack him at any second. If he was telling the truth, then he was in the same danger that Jenny and herself were. And he could provide valuable information about Brit's strengths and weaknesses… but what if he **was** lying? Could he be trying to sneak inside, and bring down the house's defenses from the inside?

"Just stab the killswitch into any armored portion of Ms. Crust's body, depress the plunger on the handle, and the program will do the rest." Mog explained, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Nora called after him, making the elderly scientist pause. If he had any sinister intentions, why just give them this weapon and leave? He had no guarantee she would even use it. "Mog… please, come inside." Nora invited, stepping aside to usher him in.

"If Brit is after you too, then the only place you're safe is here with my daughter and I. Please come inside, I have a lot of questions that need answering and I could use an extra pair of skilled hands to help prepare."

* * *

"So, we have a plan then?" asked Sheldon, walking beside Jenny as they traversed through his memory banks. Scenes from around Tremorton faded in and out in the background, mixing with memories of going to school, watching television, working in the garage, even memories of going to the bathroom or going to sleep at night. These memories weren't as pivotal to Sheldon's life, so were remembered less clearly and therefore, less likely to be immediately targeted by the Silver Shell for erasure. Still, it was best to keep moving until they had figured out a defense.

"Not really." Jenny frowned, shaking her head. The swishing of her pigtails on her head reminded her once again that she was a mere human girl here, with all the limitations thereof. "My mom said that we need to force Silver Shell into submission. I don't think we'll be able to physically force him to do anything, so is there any way we can out-think him? What does the Silver Shell want?"

With a shrug, Sheldon offered "Well, I built him as part of a plan to get you to like me, so I programmed him to be as smooth and charming as I could. His whole existence is to romance you, really."

Jenny pursed her lips in thought. Could they use that to their advantage?

"Maybe that's what he's doing right now. If Silver Shell is programmed to make himself desirable to _me_, then he'd see your presence in his personality as geeky, negative traits that he'd need to get rid of."

Sheldon chuckled a little, "That makes sense. People have been trying to get rid of me my whole life."

Self-depreciating humor like that didn't really sit well with Jenny, but she merely frowned and continued. "If that's the case, then fixing this problem is as simple as convincing the A.I. that I'm more attracted to you then I am to it."

"Are you?" Sheldon asked abruptly, making Jenny halt in her tracks.

"Sheldon, how could you even ask that?" she asked, her voice harsh and offended. Somehow Jenny felt that she _should_ be angry or at least annoyed by a question like that, and expressed herself accordingly, but inside she only felt hurt.

"Don't get me wrong," Sheldon explained, "it's not like I want to have my mind erased or something. But I think it's a valid question. One that Silver Shell is going to ask. Since I've been trapped here in my own memories, I've had nothing to do but relive past events. And in just about all of them, Silver Shell is the one you're interested in, not me."

So that's why Sheldon had seemed so depressed ever since Jenny found him in here. Though she was relieved that that little mystery had been solved, Jenny was more concerned with the problem it revealed. As it happened, he was right: the Silver Shell A.I. would need to be convinced, and they had better have a strong argument ready for it. The fact that Sheldon's doubts mirrored Jenny's own feelings of inadequacy only made the topic that much more necessary.

"Come on Sheldon, I was young. I got dazzled by anything that seemed to promise happiness. The school social cliques, my time as a football star, even the time I allowed my image to be marketed as a toy line. But I eventually learned that happiness is something you can only get from inside yourself."

"So what about right now, then?" Sheldon pressed, "I mean, you only seemed to start liking me after I got dumped into the Silver Shell's body. How are you going to convince him that he isn't the one that you love? Maybe you'd be happier if we just let Silver Shell do his work… then when he asks you to marry him, you won't have to worry about me making things difficult for you." He added bitterly.

Jenny suspected that Sheldon wasn't really asking her to convince Silver Shell… he was asking her to convince _him_.

"Alright." Jenny stated, getting an idea of how to set things right. This would be a tricky challenge to navigate, but with a little luck and timing, and if her feminine intuition was correct… "Alright Sheldon, you've got a point. But now I've got a second chance here, so let's make the most of it."

Grabbing her boyfriend by his hand, she dragged him hurriedly through foggy memories until she found the one she was looking for.

"The Sadie Hawkins dance?" Sheldon asked, recognizing the scene of Tremorton High's gymnasium decorated with streamers and soft lighting and even a disco ball hung high overhead. In the middle of the empty dance hall were the robotic XJ9 and Silver Shell, dressed in the robotic equivalent of formal wear and sharing a romantic dance by themselves.

"Why are we here?" Sheldon asked cluelessly. Leading him into the center of the room, Jenny positioned them both so that they were superimposed over the memory of themselves. The robot couple quickly faded out, leaving only the two human teens in their place. Sheldon noticed that Jenny and his appearances had altered themselves to suit the moment as well… Sheldon was wearing a blue tuxedo, while Jenny's red hair was pulled back into a single ponytail, and was wearing a pretty pink party dress.

With a squeeze to his hand held in hers, Jenny answered "Because this is one of the many happy memories that were ruined because I misinterpreted a kind gesture. So lets get it right this time." Taking his other hand and placing in her hip, then putting her own on Sheldon's shoulder, Jenny added in a sultry tone of voice "Your lead."

Quickly finding the tempo of the softly playing music in the background, the young lovers easily lost themselves in the moment. The spinning points of reflected light from the disco ball overhead painted the walls in a sylvan luminescence, and the way that it lent an angelic shine to Jenny's eyes was not lost on Sheldon either. Sheldon did not have much in the way of experience dating human girls, and in truth he was probably more comfortable being with the robotic Jenny he was used to. But in the dim light of the ballroom Jenny's human features were doing an excellent job of captivating his attention. Her cute little nose, her pretty eyelashes, the scant sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks…

"Sheldon, you're staring." Jenny giggled, smiling at the blush this brought to Sheldon's face.

"Sorry," he apologized without shifting his gaze "I'm just thinking about what a great memory this will be."

The music slowed from a moderately paced waltz down to a crooning ballad, and the dancing couple slowed their movements accordingly. Shifting her grip to wrap both arms around Sheldon's neck, Jenny sighed and leaned herself against Sheldon, resting her head on his shoulder.

"This is a lot more enjoyable without worrying about space bikers ruining things." Sheldon commented, which Jenny answered with a quiet purr of agreement. His breath tickled the hairs on the back of Jenny's head, and thought that if she was careful, she could even detect the pulse of his heart beating inside his chest. Jenny could scarcely imagine a more romantic moment. But then again, this wasn't for her benefit… this was for Sheldon.

Pulling away just enough to look Sheldon in the face, Jenny couldn't help but smile. Here was her man. Nerdy or not, she didn't care. What mattered was that they accepted each other utterly, for what each other were at their core, not outward appearances. Which is all they really were here in Sheldon's mind anyway; their core personas, stripped of their physical limitations.

"I think I figured out why I have a human body in here." Jenny stated, momentarily halting their slow dance. Sheldon looked at her expectantly, and she went on, "Because subconsciously, this is how you see me. More then anyone else in the world, even Brad, even my own mother, _you_ have never questioned that I was a person. A real person, not just a simulation of one."

"Sure Jenny, did you think I was only interested in you because you were a robot or something? Wasn't that clear?" Sheldon asked.

Jenny pouted a little, "I guess not."

"Sorry." Sheldon offered again, sheepishly. Jenny's frown disappeared, and she hugged herself to him even tighter then before.

"Don't be. It's the best compliment I could have asked for." She stated emphatically, before kissing him passionately. Sheldon's arms moved from Jenny's hips to wrap around her back, pulling her tightly into his embrace. A soft, fleshy human tongue pressed against Sheldon's lips and was soon met by his own, releasing a moan from Jenny's throat as their kiss deepened.

Time passed immeasurably while the two teens tongue-wrestled, feeling each other breathing and sighing. Jenny's fingers found their way to the back of Sheldon's head, where she soothingly played with his dark hair and enjoyed the texture of it between her slim fingers. Similarly, Sheldon's own hands roamed as well. Across Jenny's lower back, to her hips, and lower to affectionately rest on her backside. A pleased murmur from Jenny encouraged Sheldon to continue, as did Jenny subtly pressing her youthfully plump bum back against his palms.

Sheldon gave his dance partner a gentle squeeze with both hands, making Jenny yelp. "Oh!" she said, breaking the kiss. "Kinda got lost in the moment there." She offered, pulling away from Sheldon.

Confused, he asked "Is the dance over?"

Walking towards the exit, Jenny turned to look coyly back at Sheldon. "For now. Our time together at the Sadie Hawkins dance was pretty short remember… I only wanted to make it a happier memory, not cause continuity problems for your brain. Besides, this is your memory of our first dance together; I can't let you feel me up on our _first_ dance, what kind of girl do you think I am?"

Jenny concluded with a playful wink at Sheldon, batting her new eyelashes and easily drawing the captivated boy to her. "Let's keep moving. There are plenty of other memories that could use a little 'touching up'".

The next memory they visited was the end of Jenny's visit to Cluster Prime, during the insurrection against Vexus that started the whole civil war currently plaguing the Cluster. Originally, Jenny remembered, she had been rescued by her mother at the last minute, who then did battle with Vexus and soundly trounced the Queen thanks to the high-tech battle gear she had cobbled together. Jenny had been just about ready to agree to move to Cluster Prime permanently when Sheldon had rapidly descended from the hovering battleship overhead, with a suitably dramatic cry of "**Noooooooo!**"

Of course, it was only now in retrospect that Jenny knew how much trouble Sheldon had gone through in order to make it there to Cluster Prime with her. Indeed, if not for his help, Jenny's mother probably wouldn't have been able to save Jenny's life when she did. This time, Jenny intended to thank him properly for his help and his concern for her.

"Sheldon!" she shouted excitedly. Smiling widely, she scooped Sheldon up in her arms and smothered him in a welcoming hug. For his part, Sheldon allowed himself to get lost in the memory and just respond naturally, trusting Jenny's plan.

When the hug ended, Sheldon exclaimed "Oh Jenny, I missed you! Please come back to Earth with us!"

Before she could answer him, Jenny was interrupted by Vega, the teenage daughter of Vexus that Jenny had befriended during her stay.

"Who's your friend?" she asked curiously, her voice carrying a flirty tone as she noticed how tightly Jenny and Sheldon were holding each other. Pulling away, Jenny stepped aside and introduced Vega to Sheldon as well as to her mother.

"A pleasure to meet you both." Vega said politely, shaking Nora's hand. Turning back to Jenny, Vega offered a disappointed little smile. "Well, I was going to ask you to stay here on Cluster Prime, but…"

"Yeah." Jenny agreed, taking Sheldon's hand in hers. "I'd love to stay here Vega, I really would. A planet full of super-powered robots is the one place in the universe I could truly belong. But you don't need me. I've got responsibilities on Earth…" She shared a sly glance with Sheldon, "…commitments."

"That's cool. Just make sure you come visit sometime, k?" said Vega, giving Jenny a quick hug goodbye.

Turning to leave, Jenny tucked in close to Sheldon and whispered "That's good for this memory, let's keep moving on to the next."

"Where are we now?" asked Sheldon, the memory they had now entered being unusually short on light.

"Well, I promised you another dance." Jenny said, as a series of black-lights and neon came on, giving the room a seedy, nightclub feel. It was clear that they were in some kind of dance club, but…

"It's that time I had my own 'crash pad' in the tool shed outside my house, remember?" Jenny reminded him, noticing Sheldon's confused expression. This didn't alleviate his confusion by much, and Jenny didn't blame him.

When Jenny's mother had given her permission to turn the tool shed into her own private living space, Jenny had been overjoyed, but at a bit of a loss when it came to how she would actually turn the crummy old shed into something livable. Although she possessed tools and materials in abundance, an engineer she was not. Thankfully, her ever reliable friend Sheldon had conveniently been able to help her out, and the two of them cannibalized a dozen other similarly dilapidated tool sheds, outhouses, pool houses, and a few other scraps in order to turn Jenny's new abode into a multi-level party central. And it had been an abounding success.

Except that once Jenny had her popularity rise, as was often the case, she forgot about the people that helped her get there. So after all the hard work he had put in, Sheldon could still barely get a moment of Jenny's time, let alone a dance. That's why Sheldon wasn't familiar with this room… he'd barely been in it!

"Right… about now I'd be up in…" the scene shifted slightly, re-orienting on Sheldon's memories of that night. Here he was, alone in the bathroom, dancing with a toaster. Sheldon groaned from witnessing his past self re-enacting such a low moment in his life.

"At least you won't reject me!" the memory proclaimed, followed a moment later by being 'slapped' by the slices of bread being ejected by the toaster.

"Uh, how humiliating." muttered Sheldon, not eager to relive this particular scene. Jenny smiled and positioned him properly within the memory, so that he was taking over the role of his past self once more. Holding his inanimate dance partner and looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, Sheldon waited while Jenny positioned herself just outside the bathroom.

"Knock knock." Jenny said as she gently edged the bathroom door open, entering the memory as she cautiously stepped into the bathroom. Before she entered fully Sheldon quickly ditched the toaster, tossing over one shoulder and hearing it land with a splash in the open toilet.

"Hey Sheldon, I've been looking for you." Jenny said warmly, "What are you doing up here? I was hoping to see you out on the dance floor."

"Oh, you know… just freshening up." Sheldon lied. Jenny must've known it wasn't true as well, but she didn't draw attention to it. Instead, she surprised him a second time by asking him to come dance with her. "I've learned a lot of cool new moves from the party, but… I need a dance partner that I can trust. Some of them are a little… racy." Jenny explained with a sight blush.

Taking his hand in hers, Jenny led Sheldon back downstairs to the thumping tones of the dance floor.

Despite the limited visibility, Sheldon could quickly see that Jenny had been right: this was a far cry from the elegance of the Sadie Hawkins dance. Boys and girls alike were grinding and thrusting their hips against each other, flirting kisses having transformed into full on make out sessions on the open dance floor.

Sheldon instantly grew uncomfortable, especially since the crowd was deferring to Jenny's presence and clearing a little room for her and Sheldon to take center stage. "Ah, errm, Jenny, I…" he stuttered, until Jenny reassured him.

"Don't worry Sheldon, you just have to stand there and move to the beat a little. I'll do all the work."

As soon as the next song started, Jenny was all over him. At first she just pressed herself closely against his chest and swayed her hips, the soft buds of Jenny's undeveloped breasts pressed warmly against Sheldon's torso. Sheldon placed his hands on her hips to steady himself a little, which Jenny seemed to appreciate. With one hand Jenny reached up to tickle the top of Sheldon's hair, then turned in a pirouette to face away from her dance partner. The hand tousling Sheldon's hair stroked down to hold the back of his neck, which Jenny used as leverage to lean back against him and allow him to support her weight. Her body writhed against Sheldon's front, and Jenny leaned her head back on Sheldon's shoulder, simultaneously exposing her delicate neck and allowing Jenny to observe the results of her dance skills.

Clearly, she was doing a good job. Sheldon's eyes were practically glazed over, and from the inclination of his head Jenny guessed he was trying to catch a good whiff of the smell of her hair. But the most telling evidence was the firm bulge that had grown in the front of Sheldon's pants, resting right between the tight young butt-cheeks Jenny was grinding against him.

"Is that a rocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Jenny joked, though Sheldon was either to nervous or to stunned to laugh. Placing her hands over his, Jenny guided Sheldon's palms from her hips to her stomach, up her sides and exploring over most of her front, stopping just shy of actually placing them cupped over her small breasts.

Just when Sheldon feared the softly gyrating groove of Jenny's ass might bring him to orgasm right in front of everyone, Jenny let go of Sheldon's neck and slowly sunk down towards the floor. Keeping the rhythm of the music, Jenny pivoted on the ground so that she was once more facing Sheldon, this time crouching by one of his feet with his leg trapped between her thighs. The squatting pose forced the hem of Jenny's dress up her legs, until the only thing obscuring the crotch of her panties from view was Sheldon's shin as she worked his leg like a stripper's pole. Grabbing hold of Sheldon's belt, Jenny gradually pulled herself up to standing again, all the way grinding her heated muff against Sheldon's calf, knee, thigh, and eventually his hip. All the while, Jenny was staring up into Sheldon's face and making the sultriest come-hither looks she could muster. When she had climbed her way back to facing Sheldon she finished her dance with a feral purr of arousal.

The song concluded, and there was a short break in the music as the DJ selected a new disk to spin. In the meanwhile, the partygoers shuffled about looking for new dance partners or leaving for other sections of the building.

A nearby closet door opened and caught Jenny and Sheldon's attention, as out stepped a disheveled looking Brad! Immediately behind him came Tammy of the Orion's Angels space biker gang, who clung to Brad's chest affectionately.

"The closet's free." Brad announced, heading off elsewhere in the party with barely acknowledging Jenny and Sheldon's presence. Most of the other partygoers made a commotion however, with chants of "Seven minutes in Heaven!" and "Who's next?" accompanied by bouts of anxious laughter.

Soon enough, one of the more energetic girls in the crowd roughly nominated the hostess and the boy she was clinging to by shouting "Jenny's next!" and shoving them both into the closet, then slamming and locking the door shut on them. Landing unceremoniously on the collected pile of coats that was serving as the party's makeshift love nest, Jenny and Sheldon fell on top of one another in a jumble of limbs and giggled nervously.

It was strange, Sheldon reflected: in the back of his mind, he knew that this was Jenny, his girlfriend, the future mother to his child. They'd been a couple for a while now, and been intimate on a number of occasions. And yet, it was so easy to get lost in the memory of earlier times, to feel these emotions as if they really were happening for the first time. At this very moment, for example, he felt surprisingly nervous: he had been locked in a closet with the girl of his dreams, under the pretense of having to pass the time making out. This was his dream come true, and he had the butterflies in his stomach to prove it. If this had actually been how that night had actually gone, he had no doubt that Jenny wouldn't let him try anything with her. They were just friends, after all. But now, reliving the moment with the ability to edit it at will…

"I'm glad we have a minute out of sight," Jenny stated as she fussed about with the skirt of her dress "that last dance move gave me a wicked camel toe. I'm glad I never have to worry about my metal underwear riding up on me in the real world."

Feeling the nervousness that his role was pressing on him, Sheldon only gulped and offered "Oh, really…?"

Jenny smirked, remembering full well the part she was playing in rewriting Sheldon's memories and the liberties she was able to take.

"Yeah, really."

She laughed, catching Sheldon's hand in her own. Lifting the front of her dress up to her waist, Jenny pressed Sheldon's hand against the crux of her legs, where her plump young pussy lips protruded from around the thin fabric of her underwear.

"See?" she inquired of the speechless Sheldon, who gasped from the sensation. The silky soft labia rested against his palm, and a light dusting of fiery red pubic hair tickled his wrist, but more then that the throbbing heat from Jenny's nethers was what stunned him. Once again, Sheldon found himself caught up in how _new_ this experience felt. As though he really was touching a girl's pussy… Jenny's pussy… for the first time in his life.

"Let me just fix this." Jenny murmured, pulling the offending underwear out from her girlhood and off to the side, leaving it naked for Sheldon's inspection. The inner lips could now be seen, pink and slightly parted, and a faint feminine scent wafted through the limited air in the closet, demonstrating Jenny's arousal.

Watching him watching her, Jenny purred "you can touch it if you want… it won't bite."

"O-okay." Sheldon answered, his voice cracking. As soon as his fingers touched the moist folds of her sex, Jenny took in a sharp breath. Rubbing the tip of his middle finger along the groove of her slit, Sheldon gently probed his way down to the depression that marked the entrance to her vagina, finding the wetness increasing to bathe his fingertip in a warm coating of the clear fluid. All the while, Jenny softly hissed her approval, one hand holding her panties aside and the other hand squeezing her inner thigh.

Working his finger around in the dripping entrance to Jenny's inner treasures, Sheldon gently massaged her insides as best he could, but found her to be incredibly tight and was unable to get in any more then his first knuckle of a single finger. Withdrawing, he drew the slick finger back up through Jenny's quivering lower lips until he encountered a swollen bud where the lips joined together, and smeared some of the juices onto it.

"Oohhhhnnn…" Jenny immediately groaned, thrusting her pelvis forward slightly to increase the pressure from Sheldon's hand. From the encouraging moans she was making, Jenny obviously enjoyed the attention this little nubbin was receiving. So Sheldon pressed on, collecting more of Jenny's flowing juice to rub over the protruding button and increasing the pace of his stroking.

Jenny was leaning forward now, holding onto Sheldon's shoulder and bicep and leaning her weight on him as he busily fingered her.

"Mmh, mmh, mmh, that feels so good." Jenny whimpered, her body steadily building to a critical mass. Wanting to give her as much pleasure as possible, Sheldon frigged her as fast as he was able, his fingers practically vibrating over the swollen clit.

"Hey lovebirds, time's almost up, hahaha!" came a voice and a knock from the other side of the closet door, making Sheldon halt his ministrations and Jenny relax the tension in her muscles.

"Damn." She grunted, frustrated. "Sheldon, I think it's time we moved on to the next memory. There's one more I think we should fix before meeting up with the Silver Shell A.I."

Around them, the dark closet shifted to a similarly dim environment. This one Sheldon recognized immediately however. The softly glowing LED lights of various colors, the faint humming of alien machinery and radiating warmth from nearby engines had painted a very romantic scene for two young robots with raging hormones… or, programming, or… whatever.

"This was where I first realized I loved you." stated Jenny softly, looking decidedly out of place as an attractive young human girl taking shelter inside a Cluster spaceship. Then again, Sheldon figured he must seem as out of place as she did, and at least Jenny now appeared in the delicate Cluster wedding dress she had been wearing on that fateful night.

"So, this is my plan."

Jenny explained, "We've changed things so that as far as the A.I. knows, I wasn't quite such a bitch to you when we were younger. And now I'll give myself to you all over again… to Sheldon Lee, not the Silver Shell, so there can be absolutely no doubt."

She didn't say "in your mind.", but it was implied.

This was the solution to her problem as well. In this way, Jenny would finally prove the depth of her love for Sheldon the way that he had demonstrated his love for her since the day they had met. And then, finally, she could say "yes."

Jenny pushed forward against Sheldon, more then eager to satisfy the emotional burden she'd carried, as well as the sexual desire she'd built up during this entire adventure through Sheldon's subconscious.

"Wait," breathed Sheldon, making Jenny hesitate.

He liked her plan, it was solid. And he wanted Jenny as much as she wanted him, perhaps even moreso. But this familiar memory, which he had so often revisited by himself ever since it had first occurred… Sheldon didn't want to reenact it just as it had happened the first time.

Already he was feeling the nervousness of that night, the tense anticipation of being moments away from losing his virginity to the girl of his dreams. Back then, Jenny was cheating on Brad by having sex with him, and it had left them both deeply conflicted. They had trusted that their hearts were in the right place and that that was enough, but it was hardly an ideal situation. And Sheldon had been the meek boy he always was when encountering self-doubt, allowing Jenny to dictate every move they made.

Well no more. If Jenny could edit these memories, then so could he.

"Sheldon, wha…" Jenny gasped, surprised by Sheldon forcefully pushing back against her and sealing his lips against hers. Their tongues met, writhing against one another and dancing back and forth inside the mouths of the young couple. Jenny hummed contentedly, allowing herself to lean back into the strength of Sheldon's arms cradling her back. She'd never known Sheldon to be this aggressive before, this commanding. But she liked it. She liked it a lot.

For a long while, Jenny allowed herself to be held by Sheldon, responding to the playful advances of his tongue in her mouth and curling up inside the protective embrace of her lover. Finally pulling back and gasping for air (a problem she'd never experienced as a robot) gave Jenny a chance to speak.

"What's this all about?"

"This should be the happiest night of our lives. Not just to convince the Silver Shell, but for us, too." Sheldon explained.

Stroking a hand through Jenny's beautiful red hair and undoing her pigtails to let her hair fall messily around her shoulders, Sheldon gazed straight into Jenny's perfect shining eyes and continued.

"So I don't want to have any regrets, or fears, or doubts about this memory we're creating. So before we do anything, I need to ask you."

"Jennifer Wakeman, here inside our own minds where we are nothing more or less then our bared souls, I have to know: Will you marry me?"

Jenny hesitated, but not out of fear. It was to savor this magical moment in time. She knew that in the days to come she would return to this memory many times, but it would never be as fresh or as new as it was right now. All the same, her hesitation made Sheldon gulp, so she blinked once and solemnly answered:

"Yes, Sheldon Lee, I will marry you."

Their lips met again, the kiss even deeper than before.

Their arms followed, wrapping around each other in a tight embrace. Eventually Jenny even curled her legs around Sheldon's hips and thighs, never wanting to be pried away from this wonderful man she was now devoted to.

The heat of their tightly pressed bodies, and the grinding gyrations of Jenny's hips rapidly raised Sheldon's tool to the steel-like firmness it had possessed out on the dance floor of Jenny's clubhouse. And thanks to the fondling her clit had received mere minutes ago, Jenny's pussy was as wet as a lake and as hot as a furnace. Both knew what they wanted. The time for foreplay was long since passed.

In less then a minute their clothes were gone, Jenny's delicate Cluster wedding dress once again shredded apart and cushioning the floor of their hiding place. Sheldon loomed over her, looking down at his flushed bride-to-be.

Every inch of her soft, milky skin was exposed to his gaze, from her delicately sculpted feet, up her smooth creamy legs to the small triangle of naturally red pubic hair nestled around her womanhood. Her hips rolled back, parting her thighs to welcome him into her body and flexing the slight bit of baby-fat adorning her taught stomach.

Jenny returned Sheldon's gaze, drinking in the form of the man about to ravish her. The effect it had on her was plain to see: Jenny's plump little breasts heaved in time with her breathing, a blush spreading over her chest, neck and face. Jenny's features were expectant, anxious, and hopeful all at once.

"Don't make me beg you" she whispered, her tone already pleading.

All at once, Sheldon descended on her. With a forceful growl of lust Sheldon gripped Jenny in his arms, making her gasp in delight as his kisses found their way from her collar bone, up her neck to her earlobe and the side of her face.

"Oh…" she sighed with each tender peck. The brief kisses slowed and became more intense, and the addition of a tongue and a light scrape of teeth turned Jenny's sigh into a moan. Her nails scratched down the length of Sheldon's back, urging him onward.

Their hips locked together, with Jenny's legs spread wide around Sheldon's, made it a simple matter for the tip of Sheldon's raging erection to find the hot, moist entrance to Jenny's pussy. There it hovered, nudging apart the delicate petals of her flower and prodding just slightly into her.

Jenny had never felt such raw need before in her life. It burned in her, like a fire inside her loins that could only be put out by being touched by Sheldon's thick tool. But it was good too… it made her feel like a beast in heat… more alive, more real then before.

This is what she had been missing with Brad, and even with Sheldon too, before now.

She had needed… to need. To be utterly at the mercy of her lover, because she could absolutely not exist without him.

Tilting her head back, Jenny was instantly rewarded by Sheldon fulfilling her unspoken desire: his mouth gripped her throat, gently but with just a faint hint of teeth to add the spice of danger to the act. No sooner had Sheldon flexed his dominance over her then she felt herself swiftly being filled by his lover's tool.

Her entire lower body tensed, bearing down on the intruding organ and squeezing it with all the force Jenny's body was capable of. The reaction was completely out of Jenny's control. It was as though she'd just had an instantaneous, albeit small, orgasm.

When he had managed to push the entire length of his cock into her body, Sheldon paused and released his grip on her neck, relocating his mouth to her ear.

"I love you so much Jenny" he whispered.

Jenny squeaked, but could say nothing. It was then that she realized that she had forgotten to breathe, and promptly sucked in a breath of air. As soon as Sheldon shifted his hips, slowly withdrawing his length from her before plunging back in again, Jenny's breath was stolen away again, escaping her as a series of mewling whimpers.

This was crazy, it was as though her entire life her senses had been on a scale of one to ten, and just now had suddenly been cranked up to eleven. Sheldon's cock was pumping into her now, and each stroke sent more electric shivers through her body. Any moment now Jenny knew she would launch into a series of orgasms, and she doubted she would ever stop.

Sheldon heard Jenny's moans, and more. He heard… even felt… the air entering and exiting between her lips. He felt her heart beating faster and faster, much as his own was. He could feel the tender caps of her breasts wobbling on her chest as his thrusts bucked her body underneath him, and the heat radiating off her skin and merging with his own. Out of sight, he could feel the tight confines of Jenny's vagina sliding up and down over the length of his cock, stroking his throbbing shaft and teasing his swollen knob. Somewhere deep inside her he thought he could sense a distant but intense vibration, and felt it matching one building inside his own body as well.

As he rocked against her, pumping their genitals together, Jenny seemed to find her voice again, though she was fighting to keep it. "I! … I Lo…(unh) Love! You! Unh! Love you… too! (ah) …Sheldon! Sheldonnnn….aaahhh…! SHELDON!!"

Her hips now periodically lifting off the ground to meet his thrusts, Jenny knew it was time. But she wanted to make this moment perfect, just like Sheldon had said. No doubts, no regrets, nothing.

"Sheldon, I want to cum!" she screamed, and the fluttering spasms in her pussy clearly agreed with her. For another couple, it would have seemed like Jenny was dissatisfied with the sex, that she was having trouble. But Sheldon knew it was just the opposite. Jenny would have already reached a shattering orgasm by now, but she was holding herself back. She was waiting for him.

"You want to cum Jenny?" he shot back, when his breathing allowed, "You want to cum with me baby?" She didn't have long to wait, but with each remaining thrust Jenny begged harder.

"Ahhn, please Sheldon! Let me **cum**! I need to cum so bad! I need to feel you spunking off inside me, making me pregnant! I wanna have your baby! Please do it, fill me up with your seed!"

Unable to forestall her body's natural reaction any longer, Jenny's body tensed, readying to unleash a torrent of her honey onto Sheldon's swiftly pounding cock. At the last second she pressed her lips against Sheldon's jaw and groaned "Nnnowww! Do it **now**!"

With one last thrust, Sheldon felt his body explode. Jenny's pussy clamped down in an intense fit of pleasure, her juices completing a perfect seal between her tightly stretched inner lips and Sheldon's pole. The hot semen coated Jenny's interior walls, filled her to the limit. Still, Sheldon's cock continued pumping more of the potent jizz into his love, until the excess was being pushed straight through Jenny's cervix and into her fertile virgin womb.

"Ahhhh Yessss!" they shouted in unison, overcome with lust.

Gradually, the racing pulses of the star-crossed lovers slowed, their bodies cooled. Both Jenny and Sheldon basked in the glowing pleasure they felt between them, catching their breath as they remained locked together at the hip. Sheldon poked his nose against Jenny's, making her giggle and blush.

"At least now no one can say our baby was an accident" she commented, running her fingertips through Sheldon's sweaty hair like a comb.

Changing the topic, Sheldon asked "So do you think your plan will work?"

Jenny scoffed pleasantly, pulling Sheldon's face close to hers. "Sheldon, _I'm yours now_. You've courted me all through high school, fought aliens and super-villains and even Don Prima… You've crossed interstellar space to win me over. And now you have me all to yourself. The only thing still standing in your way is a super-powered robot juggernaut named the Silver Shell… are you going to let a little thing like that stop you?"

Matching Jenny's grin with one of his own, Sheldon gave a short chuckle and answered "Not a chance."

* * *

"Well, that's the last of it." Stated Nora Wakeman with a resigned sigh.

For the past two hours she and Phineas Mog had been preparing the Wakeman household for the coming assault. At any time Brit Crust, wielding the powers of the Cluster tyrant Vexus and the reality-shaping Pip crystal, would arrive with the intent to kill XJ-9 and everyone around her. But at least now Mrs. Wakeman was confident that she had given her daughter a fighting chance. With all these defenses in place, Jenny just might have enough of an edge to defeat her insane enemy.

The other half of the headway Nora had made in the past two hours had come from talking to Mog. At first, Nora had been furious that Mog had fused Brit and Vexus together. After all, what possible excuse could someone have for giving that kind of power to someone that insane? Reckless did not begin to describe how bad a decision it was. But, after she had calmed down a little and the two had made their way around the house preparing as best they could, she had heard his side of the story. And, now, she was starting to understand how someone could be persuaded to do something so awful.

For one thing, there was the money.

Phineas Mog did not have the lucrative income that Nora Wakeman did. Since YK-9 didn't have the impressive track record that XJ-9 did (being about a year younger then her, and kept on a much shorter leash as well), the government wasn't nearly as generous with their research and development grants.

Add to that a few recent setbacks and a much less illustrious tour of duty in Skyway Patrol, and it was easy to imagine how Mog might be having some trouble making ends meet. And Brit had her entire trust fund at the ready, as well as money put aside for her college education.

Of course, greed did not excuse what Mog did. Nora was more convinced by Mog's scientific curiosity. She had to admit, even she would be tempted by the opportunity to dissect and study the body of a dead alien robot. What serious scientist wouldn't? Biology, chemistry, engineering, programming, anthropology… just about every aspect of human understanding could stand to benefit.

Having nothing left to do to better prepare for Brit's approach, Nora walked her guest to the kitchen and put a kettle on to brew some tea. She hoped it would settle both their nerves a little, while the caffeine kept them ready at a moment's notice.

Handing Mog a mug and fixing her own drink as she liked it, Nora continued to mull over what she'd been told.

"But why did you agree to help Brittany Crust use the remains as a weapon?" Nora asked aloud, suddenly speaking her mind. Mog was caught a bit off guard, but answered as best he could.

"Well it didn't only have violent purposes. The procedures I used to combine human and robotic brain functions was built upon the techniques you used on that Lee boy. I had all the theory worked out and… bang, there was a willing test subject."

"Aha!" Nora interjected, pointing an accusatory finger in Mog's direction. "You're stealing my ideas _again_!"

"Really Noreen, I would have hoped you'd be over that childish notion by now." Mog stated gruffly, folding his arms over his chest. With a frown, he added "I have contributed just as much effort and ingenuity to our collaborations as you have."

That took Nora by surprise. "Collaborations?!" she coughed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You mean you… you were actually serious? All those times when you denied stealing my ideas? Come now Mog, how can you seriously say you contributed to _my_ inventions?"

Thinking back to some of the ideas Mog had copied from her in the past, the most obvious example was the robotic teenagers they'd created.

"Take XJ-9 for example. Granted, adding a portion of canine features to your robot was a novel approach, but the Global Robotic Response Unit idea was completely my invention. You ripped me off!"

Instead of seeing his bluff crumple as she had expected, Mog only appeared baffled instead. "Ripped you off? You never would have built XJ-9 if it wasn't for my help!"

Mrs. Wakeman scoffed, obviously disbelieving.

"You want proof? Fine!" said Mog, indignantly. "How about the problems you had finding a suitable power source? Who stayed up with you all night showing you how to integrate the Neurotronic Protocore as a practical solution?"

Suddenly Noreen wasn't smiling as confidently as she had been a moment before. She did remember that.

Back during their days as Skyway Patrol civilian scientists, Mog had pointed out a solution to the seemingly insatiably energy hungry XJ-9 design. The Protocore was a recent invention by a Dexter…something… which few scientists really grasped, but Mog had adapted it for Nora's project. At the time she had thought Mog was just trying to make her feel dumb, and trying to pass of another scientist's work as his own.

"Or how about when the Robotic Response project ran out of funding, and Skyway patrol had already closed the books on their yearly research budget?"

"They told me the other projects had been scrapped." Nora defended herself.

"We did scrap them. Voluntarily, to redirect the funds into the XJ series. I had to convince my entire work crew to take a year's unpaid leave of absence because of how vital the XJ robots would be." Mog took a seat at the kitchen table, pinching the bridge of his nose to forestall an oncoming headache.

"Honestly Noreen, I knew you liked to keep your distance from the rest of your peers in the scientific community, but I had hoped that after all our history together you at least thought of me as a friend. Why would I try to steal your ideas?"

Nora gulped from her mug to avoid answering the question, a growing sense of unease forming in the pit of her stomach. There was something foreboding on the periphery just now, like a puzzle that she didn't want to put together because of what she might see in the assembled image.

How could she believe what Phineas Mog was telling her? That she had assumed the worst of him at every step when he had been helping her all along? She had been hurt so terribly back then, she didn't want to let anyone be her friend after what happened, especially not a male. It was a decade before she allowed herself to trust a man enough to go out on a date again, and never got much further then that.

Nora stared into her cup of tea, feeling too foolish to look at Mog. He was still talking, rattling off more ways in which he had contributed to XJ-9's existence. Nora heard him, but was trying not to. The more she heard, the more the puzzle pieces were fitting together. Building towards that terrible whole.

"…I mean, when you really think about it," Mog continued, "Do you remember who even gave you the original inspiration to build a Von Neumann Device?"

"Don't say that." Mrs. Wakeman demanded, slamming her mug down against the kitchen counter. She didn't want to hear it. Didn't want it to be true. It couldn't be true, he couldn't be…

"Don't you remember that night Nora?" Mog asked again, rising from his seat and stepping towards her.

He had noticed the abrupt change in Mrs. Wakeman's demeanor, that she seemed to know something but refused to speak. Surely her pride had not kept her from admitting the role he played in her life all these years? Had she been too drunk to remember their first meeting? He had to know the whole story.

"At the Halloween party?" he pressed, demanding a response.

"Shut up! Take it back!" she commanded, barely holding back emotions that were a lifetime old.

Nora didn't want this hideous truth. She preferred thinking of Mog as her deceitful little rival, plundering her ideas. Not as her unseen benefactor, who's kindness she repaid with years of scorn. Or worse, so much worse… That Mog could be _him_. The one she had waited for, the one whose absence had lost her sleep, lost her appetite, lost her _child_.

Lost _herself_.

"Nora, are you crying?" Mog asked gently, taking her shaking hands in his.

He was close now, attempting to comfort her. He had never intended to upset her like this. But a moment later, it was too late. As he brushed away a loose tear from Nora's cheek, Nora caught his scent.

All of his claims, all of his knowledge, they could've been rationalized away. But that scent… that unmistakable masculine scent that had surrounded her the night she had been ushered into womanhood.

She couldn't deny the truth any longer.

"Phineas, I'm such a fool!" she exclaimed, and fell onto Mog's shoulder, weeping. Thankfully Mog was as short as Noreen herself was, so he was able to hold her in his arms without difficulty, letting her cry. This was certainly not the reaction he had expected. It seemed almost beyond belief that she could have… that she didn't…

"Noreen, all this time?" he asked, disbelieving. Over the years he had invented dozens of reasons for why Nora Wakeman had kept giving him the cold shoulder after that night. Dozens, but never did he think that she simply didn't recognize him.

The petite scientist clinging to him continued to sob against his shoulder, "Such a fool… the years I let go to waste. It's inexcusable. You must hate me."

"Hush." Mog said calmly, holding her close. He outwardly kept his demeanor, but inwardly he was reeling as well. He needed time to digest this… a person couldn't just turn on emotions they hadn't felt since their twenties like a light switch.

What could he say next? How would Nora react? So much depended on what happened in the next few minutes.

* * *

Giving Sheldon's hand a squeeze, Jenny nervously asked "Are you ready for this?"

Sheldon nodded. The two stood amidst the memory of the previous year's holiday season, after Jenny had turned the tables on her captor and ultimately saved Christmas, clearing her name and teaching young Tod Sweeney the meaning of giving in the process. It was fun watching the scene play out in front of him, it had been one of the high points in Sheldon's life.

Brad had gotten him a subscription to the magazine "Not-so-popular mechanics", while Sheldon had got Brad a stack of vintage "Doc Savage" comic books. Tuck had hand made Mrs. Wakeman a touching Christmas card, while she had given Tuck a miniscule amount of anti-matter to play with (which still struck Sheldon as being a reckless thing to do, given Tuck's propensity for getting into trouble).

But there was one particular reason why Sheldon chose this memory to work from. This was where he got his first kiss from Jenny. Shutting down the Silver Shell A.I. trying to erase him was as much a test of Sheldon's mental fortitude and self-confidence as it was a test of his computer skills. And this was one memory that Sheldon knew didn't need to be altered in any way.

"First I'll need to reinstate myself as the 'super-user' of the brain, to grant myself complete access to all the various programs running." Sheldon explained, while Jenny looked on slightly distracted. Something was bothering her, but she couldn't tell what it was just yet. "Then I'll need to locate the Silver Shell A.I. in order to initiate a "kill" command. Luckily we know that it is already on its way to this memory, and we know it hasn't gotten here yet because the memory is unaltered."

Sparing a quick glance over at the memory playing itself out, Sheldon and Jenny watched the heartwarming moment when Jenny held a sprig of mistletoe over Sheldon and herself, and planted a grateful kiss on Sheldon's cheek. The younger version of Sheldon immediately froze and practically fainted as soon as he'd received the first kiss from his dream girl, and the real Sheldon chuckled a little at the immature reaction.

"Sheldon…" Jenny whined faintly, a worried expression on her face.

His mind was currently quite busy with the task at hand however, and Sheldon did not immediately notice Jenny's plight. Instead he rambled on the actions he was taking, unaware of Jenny clutching her midsection and grimacing in pain.

"Now, when I execute the 'kill' command, my brain will attempt to uninstall the A.I. If that doesn't work, I can try several different methods to delete or shut down the rogue program. If nothing works, then the surefire method will be to isolate the circuitry that the Silver Shell program is currently residing in, and physically cut the power to that portion of my brain, "killing" it where it is. Now this may take a bit of time to accomplish, but I should be able to keep functioning normally if I lose only a small portion of my processor."

"Sheldon, I think it's time." Jenny stated a little more forcefully, holding her abdomen and sitting down.

Narrowing his eyes in concentration but still failing to look down at her, Sheldon asked "What do you mean, 'it's time'? I'm already taking care of the problem as we speak."

Jenny reached up to grab Sheldon by his shirt collar, immediately directing both his sight and his attention down to her.

"I mean I think it's the baby's time!" Jenny growled, suddenly doubled over in pain. "Eunnhh! I… ahh… feel like my insides just turned into a trash compactor. Every servo having contractions at once!"

Sheldon looked equally worried now, trying to do whatever he could to make Jenny more comfortable. "What should I do?" he asked, suddenly at a loss once more.

"Nothing. Finish up here as soon as you can… I'm going to need you in the real world very soon!" Jenny instructed, before doubling up in pain again. "Aaaauunnngghhh!" she moaned, leaving her out of breath. "I'm cutting our mental link. Please hurry Sheldon, I don't want to do this without you."

Sheldon leaned down to kiss Jenny one last time, before she faded away from the shared dream.

Left alone in the illusions of his own memories, Sheldon attacked the problem with renewed vigor. Now it was just him and the A.I… Computer Program vs. computer geek. Before, he was doing this to save himself. Now, he was doing it for Jenny. The A.I. didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Being left alone in a quiet, darkened room with nothing to do but watch the soft _blips_ and _bloops_ on incomprehensible computer monitors was a sure guarantee to put Tiffany Crust to sleep. Gently snoring while slouched over on her seat, Tiff was rudely awakened by a pained yell.

"Tiff!?" cried Jenny, forcing Tiff awake with a start.

After recovering from nearly falling off her chair from the surprise, Tiff saw the now conscious XJ-9 sitting up and disconnecting the various wires attached to her head.

"Tiff, where's my mom? Why are you still here?"

Still shaking off the vestiges of her nap, Tiff rubber her eyes and offered "She went on upstairs fr' sumthin'. I dunno. Why?"

Jenny gave another pained cry for no reason that Tiff could see, which worried her. "I need you to go get her ASAP! Tell her that the baby wants to get out, and it isn't going to wait long!"

"Can't ya just pop it out like ya do with alla your other gizmos an' whatsits?"

"No, the baby's premature. Now please, just **GO**!" barked Jenny, clutching her pregnant belly in pain.

Tiff had never taken that kind of disrespect from anyone, not even Brit. But somehow, with the menacing look Jenny just shot her with… Tiff was oddly at ease with clamming up and doing as she was told. Just this once.

Hurrying upstairs as fast as her legs would carry her, Tiff sprinted around the house looking for Jenny's mother. Not in the living room… not in the kitchen, though she spotted the old woman's shoes strewn about on the floor, and unfinished tea and biscuits left out on the table. Weird. Not in the hallway or in the garage. Tiff scrambled up to the second floor, moving more on autopilot then on conscious thought. Bathroom door was open, so not in there… likewise for Jenny's bedroom… flinging open the first closed door she came across, Tiff poked her head inside…

Okay, **now** Tiff was fully awake. The surge of adrenalin saw to that. For a long few seconds, Tiff stood immobilized as she witnessed the shocking sight in front of her. Witnessed and _heard_. The wet smacking of flesh against flesh. Strained groans and animal grunting. It was awful.

"Oh, **sick**!" she exclaimed, announcing her presence. A flurry of alarmed shouts and embarrassed apologies followed Tiff as she quickly backed out of the room, gibbering "ohh gross so gross ewww sick nasty!" She tried to push the mental picture out of her head, tried to forget seeing a graphic display of…

Geezer sex.

"Tiff, what's the meaning of this interruption?!" demanded Mrs. Wakeman, stepping out of the room in a hastily drawn housecoat and slippers. Under her breath Nora muttered "every single time I get my motor started…"

Tiff couldn't bring herself to look the old woman in the eye. "It's Jenny, I think she's gone inta labor!" Tiff exclaimed, making Mrs. Wakeman jump.

Grabbing the shell-shocked Crust girl by the arm, she hurried off towards the basement, exclaiming "Then there's no time to lose! Come along Tiffany, I'll need you to help out as a midwife."

A few minutes later, Phineas Mog stepped out of the room, having finished redressing himself. He was just on his way downstairs to see what he could do to help when a warning buzzer sounded nearby.

Rushing into the kitchen to locate the sound, Mog saw a computer screen dropping down from a hidden compartment in the ceiling. "Warning, security breach!" the computer warned, before switching to a camera feed of the front door. In black and white video was just what Mog had feared: Brit Crust stood on the front step, covered in the armored carapace of Vexus and wearing a confident and malicious grin.

Looking directly into the camera Brit spoke; "Knock, knock."


	23. Chapter 23

**My Life as a Teenaged Von Neumann Device**

**by Toonspew**

_**Chapter 23**_

There was once a great evil that threatened Earth. Very few knew the threat existed, but it was there. In time, it would spread to corrupt and rule the entire planet and perhaps, beyond. But thankfully, there was still hope. One special little teenage girl, in a small town named Tremorton in the heart of the United States, had drawn the attention of the menace. She alone had a chance to end it now, before it became unstoppable. She could no longer rely on her friends and allies to aid her. This had to be her fight, and her fight alone.

Her name was Brittany Crust, and she was mankind's only hope.

But she was not completely helpless in her quest. In Earth's hour of need, an angel from the stars had fallen. Mortally wounded, the angel who was called "Vexus" bequeathed her strength to young Brittany, and her never ending resolution to see the threat destroyed. Together, nothing could stop them. This Brittany knew, because an evil as great as XJ-9's could only ever have been countered by a soul as virtuous as her own. Brittany accepted this holy quest, and swore that when the time came nothing could stay her hand from its righteous vengeance.

Including, as was now the case, the heavy metal door that now barred Brit's way.

"Little pig, little pig, let me in…" Brit muttered aloud, scanning the defensive barrier for any exploitable weakness. The house was a veritable fortress, which Brit was now thinking meant she would have to rule out the option of a surprise attack.

Too bad she couldn't lure Jenny out here onto the lawn to fight, Brit mused, it was a perfectly sunny day and it would be nice to disembowel her enemy out where everyone could see it.

Out of the corner of her eye Brit spotted a camera lens recording her, transmitting her actions back to Jenny and whoever else might be inside the house. Well, that was okay. Perhaps a little demonstration of power was in order. Brit liked the idea of Jenny crapping herself out of fear prior to their meeting.

"Kiaahhh!" Brit yelled, sinking both claws into the reinforced door and tearing it apart, flinging the ruined pieces onto the lawn behind her. Stepping into the darkness within, Brit tauntingly called out "Or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll…"

"You'll leave our sister alone is what you'll do!" answered an angry female voice from within.

Her eyes adjusting to the interior lighting, Brit found herself quickly surrounded. All around her stood (and hovered, and wobbled) robots of various shapes and sizes and colors ready to pounce on her.

Jenny had sisters? Well, this might be a decent warm up after all!

Extending her wings and metallic mane to their full length and taking a defensive stance, Brit grinned with anticipation of the fight.

* * *

"She's through the outer wall!" Tiff alerted everyone else present in the lab, having just watched her cousin cleave through the front door on one of the basement lab's many monitors. Despite the numerous defenses still remaining in between herself and Brit, the display still unnerved Tiff; Brit had cut through the metal blast door with such contemptuous ease, as though it were made from Styrofoam.

Nearby, Nora nodded her acknowledgment as she bustled about, frantically trying to secure everything she would need to assist with Jenny's labor. "We'll just have to depend on the distractions that Mog and I have prepared for her then." She stated, lugging a heavy case full of tools over to her moaning daughter lain out on an examination table.

"Phinease Mog? What's he doing here?" asked the newly recovered Sheldon, standing dutifully next to his girlfriend and fiancée, Jenny. He was feeling uncomfortable with just standing around while both his robotic strength and his mechanical talents would have been better able to help elsewhere, but Jenny insisted that he remain next to her to hold her hand and wouldn't hear otherwise. So, there he stood, offering what comfort he could to a very stressed-out Jenny.

"He stopped by to give us this," Nora answered, as she took a small bladed mechanical device from her lab coat and set it down on the tray of tools. "It contains a killswitch program that may give us a hope of stopping Brit. We just need someone strong and fast enough to use it without getting killed during the approach. Which is why we need to get Jenny back up and running as soon as we can. With Vexus' abilities, amplified by the Pip crystal, Jenny is really the only one who stands any kind of chance of getting close enough."

"Right now Mog is upstairs, overseeing the house's defenses, which means just about every spare piece of machinery that I don't need for this labor." Nora stated, picking through the tools and locating a scanning device of some sort.

Affixing several electrodes to the skin of Jenny's distended belly, Nora connected her daughter to some of the nearby monitoring apparatus set into the wall. Several diagnostic displays appeared on the various screens, pouring out a wealth of information about Jenny's vitals and the status of the infant insider her.

Jenny laid back passively allowing her mother to work, her head and shoulders resting against a mound of cushions and pillows that Tiff had fetched from upstairs.

"What are you doing now mom?" Jenny asked, her shaky voice betraying her worry. It was all Jenny could do to keep herself together at this point. She had gone into labor premature, her abdomen was still fused shut, trapping the baby inside, and to top it all off she now had a time limit.

And the pain was terrible.

She had never faced a challenge like this before. If she didn't give birth quickly enough, her resurrected nemesis would be storming in here to kill her and her family. Just as she had said she would, the night Jenny had killed her. Now Vexus was back, seeking her revenge from beyond the grave!

Returning from the bank of computer readouts, Nora explained "I'm performing an ultrasound scan of your uterus, to make sure power levels are-" catching sight of her daughter's rattled expression, Nora asked "Jenny are you quite alright?"

"She's coming to kill my baby! I need to get it out but I can't, and she's going to kill my baby! I can't do it, I can't stop her! Ahh, ahuh, ahuhn…" Jenny was on the brink of bursting out in tears, and her mother rushed to her side to reassure her.

"Jenny, listen to me! You need to breathe. Big, deep breaths, or you'll overheat your core."

Jenny's panic magnified, shrieking "But I'm a robot! I don't breathe! AHHHH!"

Sheldon intervened, seizing Jenny by the shoulders to get her attention. "Just do like I do. Watch me. Suck with your mouth like you're taking a drink. Push the air down through your chassis. Inhale." Pantomiming the action, Sheldon saw Jenny watch him and slowly attempt to copy his actions. "Good. Now exhale; push the air from your chest, slow and steady. That's it."

The panicked look started to drain from Jenny's face as she began a steady rhythm of breathing, pulling air in and pushing it out in measured breaths. Sheldon reflected on how unusual it was to teach someone something so fundamental. In retrospect, this was perhaps a glimpse into what Jenny had felt when she first helped Sheldon get used to his new robotic body.

When she seemed comfortable with the process, Sheldon rewarded with Jenny a quick hug.

"S…sorry mom. What were you saying?" Jenny asked, a measure of her resolve restored.

Nora cleared her throat, her own apprehension now settling down. "I was saying that your baby appears largely complete, which is lucky. It should be fine, so long as we can get it out of you."

"And how do we do that?" asked Jenny, wincing as her insides clutched up again, internal components grinding and scratching each other as her body attempted to reconfigure itself.

Nora sighed regretfully.

"I'm afraid at this point we have no choice. You're going to have to expel the baby vaginally."

* * *

The first one to come at her was a scrawny-looking four-armed robot standing on a single wobbly leg. "And just look at that mess you made!" the pinkish robot exclaimed, meaning the ruined front door,

"You're despicable!"

The attack of the multi-armed robot was easy enough for Brit to bat aside, sending it crashing to the ground around Brit's feet.

The larger, hulking robot took more effort to avoid. Brit ducked low under the brutish sister's punch, retaliating with a hard strike into its solar plexus.

Before Brit was even finished dispatching her current opponent, the others were upon her. Arms punched, grabbed, and beat at Brit. Legs kicked her, lasers seared her, blades and saws attempted to cut away at her armor. Once, a small mouth even bit at Brit's leg. Brit struggled and wrestled with the mass of robots attacking her, their combined weight and effort taxing even Brit's enhanced strength.

The only one not directly attacking Brit was a small green robot in the shape of a floating, disembodied head. Unable to restrain Brit with arms of its own, the green robot instead peppered Brit with blasts from a weak energy weapon projecting from the bottom of its "neck", and cheered encouragements to her sisters.

"Go girls, go! Jenny's depending on us! If we work together, we can do it!" the floating android shouted, endlessly optimistic.

It really grated on Brit's nerves.

"We can't let this creep interrupt Jenny's labor!"

Oh ho, what was that? Brit's attention was instantly perked. Taking her time with Jenny's cast-off "sisters" no longer held any appeal. Brit needed to locate Jenny while she was vulnerable. And oh, how vulnerable she would be!

Brit could kill everything around her while Jenny watched, even snatch up the newborn infant and taunt Jenny with it held delicately in Brit's merciless claws.

"Alright," Brit grunted, flexing her arms and shaking a couple of the clinging robots off of her, "I've grown bored of this. I'm going to kill you all now."

She started with the annoying hovering-head-robot, reaching out with her left arm and catching it in her open hand, gripping hold of its face. It still struggled in her hand, but the broken glass and metal where its eyes and face were told Brit that it had probably been rendered blind and helpless.

And thankfully mute, as well.

Using the ruined head as a blunt weapon, Brit smashed it into the face of the large, dark purple sister that had her right arm pinned. As expected, the attack surprised the large robot enough to release Brit's remaining arm. Brit pried herself loose of each robot in turn, the last being a small toddler-sized robot clinging to Brit's leg that was smashed to pieces when she kicked it against a nearby wall.

Nearby, Phineas Mog crouched at the top of the flight of stairs leading up to the second floor, trying to remain hidden while observing the fight below him. For a moment there, it almost seemed that Jenny's "sisters", the earlier stages of the XJ robot series, would manage to hold off Brit on their own. But that hope was in vain.

Mog had personally installed the advanced alien machinery into the Crust girl, and he knew the XJ's couldn't stand up to her. He had, ages ago, been there to assist Nora when she first laid out the specs for each stage of the robot's development. In his head, he mentally counted them off as Brit Crust attacked them.

XJ-5 had been the first to crumble, the floating head reduced to an improvised blunt weapon. Which was not surprising, given its near total lack of combat abilities: the XJ-5 was the "social" robot after all, the stage where Jenny's personality had first learned how to converse and successfully socialize with others.

The next down was XJ-7, the morose robot barely offering resistance against Brit's savage attack. The XJ-7 represented the point at which Jenny was programmed with predictive computational functions, the ability to determine the most likely outcome from any given situation and make decisions accordingly. Which perhaps explained its constantly pessimistic attitude, considering the dangerous situations the XJ model was designed to handle. Mog guessed that XJ-7 had probably already accepted its imminent destruction before Brit had even entered the house.

This thought did not overly comfort the elderly scientist as he watched Brit rend the XJ-7 apart, tearing open its chest cavity and pulling out large handfuls of wiring and hydraulic tubing.

The XJ-8 renewed her attack at this point, as Mog had expected. XJ-8 was, after all, the combat testing stage. Built like a walking tank, XJ-8 easily outmatched the combined strength of all the previous stages, and was even (in theory) as strong a combatant as XJ9 herself. The only real advantage that Jenny had over XJ-8 was experience, being that the XJ-9 stage represented a "debugging" step, essentially a scaled-down but completed final product that incorporated all the learned experiences of the previous eight stages.

So when XJ-8 landed a shoulder check into Brit's side, Mog was certain that the psychotic young girl felt it. He could see it, too, as the attack sent Brit hurtling through the air and impacting against one of the house's load-bearing walls. Silently, Mog cheered on the "daughters" that he had played some small role in creating.

Before Brit had gotten up again XJ-6 was already upon her, pinning her down with her three spidery legs and beating at the fallen girl with her single arm. "You think you're better then me? You think you're sooo tough don't you?" XJ-6 sneered, displaying her jealous streak as she rained down attacks on the fallen villain.

A peculiar development, that… XJ-6 was represented the stage at which Jenny had been able to conceptualize her own capacity for self improvement, and it manifested in her personality as the XJ-6's hyper-envious nature. As he watched the fight, Mog reflected on what that might suggest about the human condition. At least, he did until Brit managed to fight back.

Ignoring XJ-6's punches, Brit grabbed hold of two of the three legs pinning her to the ground and violently ripped them from their sockets. XJ-6 toppled to the ground, feebly attempting to right herself with her remaining arm and leg. Brit offered a merciless sneer right back, brandishing the dismembered legs like spears.

Without a trace of humor she answered "Yes, actually, I _am_ that much tougher then you." Which she demonstrated immediately after by skewering the helpless XJ-6 through her head and torso, like a bug pinned for display.

With a buzz of her membranous wings Brit took to the air and launched herself towards XJ-8, easily identifying the "eldest" sister as being the largest threat. Although she had the firepower of an artillery cannon and the hull of a battleship, XJ-8 was not terribly quick where reflexes were concerned, and Brit was able to wind up a double-fisted axe-chop that she delivered right into XJ-8's midsection.

Her knees buckling under the force of the blow, XJ-8 fell to the floor with a deep grunt of pain. Brit landed lightly on XJ-8's broad back, grabbed hold of the back of her opponent's head and prepared to deliver a killing blow.

It never came however, and for the moment XJ-8 remained alive. Instead, Brit took a heavy blast of laser-fire and was knocked off her perch, allowing XJ-8 a chance to scramble to her feet.

Mog was astounded at the ingenuity of the remaining sisters; he could see that they had combined their forms and functions into a sophisticated, and potent, tripod mounted cannon of some sort. XJ-2 served as the main barrel and firing mechanism, which made sense given that her original function was the calibration of Jenny's senses and targeting faculties. The legs and body of the tripod were composed of XJ-4 and her multiple arms, and even Jenny's little XJ-1 body was attached to the rear, acting as an auxiliary power source.

Brit was scowling, clearly displeased by this turn of events. She didn't have the luxury of immediately dealing with them however, as XJ-8 was still a much more pressing threat. Every punch the mammoth robot threw could have flattened a family car, so Brit was careful to dodge and weave past them, waiting for an opening to present itself.

Slipping inside XJ-8's reach, Brit grabbed hold of the robot's top and hoisted her into the air. While XJ-8 struggled to release herself from Brit's grip, Brit flexed her Cluster-enhanced legs and sent the two of them crashing into the cannon amalgamation of the remaining sisters.

When the dust settled, only XJ-8 and Brit stood up again… XJ-1, XJ-2, XJ-4 and a few stray pieces of XJ-3 had all been crushed like aluminum cans under the weight of their older, bulkier sister.

The damage was extensive, past the point of any hope that the younger robots might someday be repaired. Which wasn't very surprising really. XJ-1 was simply a housing for Jenny's infant artificial intelligence, and was almost as fragile as the egg that it was shaped like. XJ-4 wasn't any better off, being designed to teach Jenny simple organizational skills. Mog wondered if there might be some hope for little XJ-3 however; being that the XJ-3 model was actually _designed_ to fall apart, in order to test its self-repair circuits.

XJ-8 may have been wondering the same thing. In a rare emotional outburst, XJ-8's eyes narrowed and burned with anger. "**You will pay for the destruction of my siblings**" declared XJ-8 in her flat, aggressive voice.

Mog wished that were true.

The truth was that XJ-8 and the other younger "sisters" were already lost before the fight even began, sacrificed for the well being of XJ-9.

Mog had been present with Nora when she had readied them as the first line of defense, knowing that a stalling tactic was the best they could hope for. Still, Mrs. Wakeman had given them her best pep talk, telling them that they were Jenny's only chance, and Mog had gone along with the lie.

Because in truth, Jenny _did_ need every second she could get.

If Brit managed to make it to the basement lab before Jenny had finished giving birth, well, Mog didn't want to think about the massacre that would be. So the two scientists had lied, and here were the results of their plan bearing fruit: all the XJ's were in shredded or crushed pieces except for XJ-8, who was fighting her heart out in an ultimately doomed struggle.

And worse yet, Mog's part to play came next.

As he watched, XJ-8's thundering punches and devastating weapons were deflected almost effortlessly by Brit's alien armor, though each strike served to further enrage the battered girl. Finally, annoyed beyond her limit, Brit shouted "Enough!"

Seizing XJ-8 by her midsection, Brit's claws sliced through the outer armor of the robot's sides and sunk in deep, until Brit had hooked them around the rib-like internal structures that made up a portion of XJ-8's skeleton.

"I. Have. Had. Enough…" Growled Brit, her arms and servos flexing with effort and her face trained in concentration. With an awful groan of twisting metal, Brit gave one last mighty heave.

"…Of You!" she finished, as XJ-8's body was torn asunder, her body cracking and splitting down the middle as Brit ripped her in half like a phone book.

A flash of light and a shower of sparks sprayed the room, followed by oil-coated metal chunks that had made up XJ-8's insides. There had been something else, too: just a moment before Brit had mercilessly torn her victim apart, Mog had caught sight of a pulse of light. Some unearthly glow that seemed to come from the area of Brit's chest, leaking out around the edges of the Cluster chest plate she wore. Mog was quite familiar with the cybernetics he had implanted into Brit, and knew there wasn't anything that should have produced a flash of light like that.

Could that be the Pip crystal then, he wondered? Perhaps the luminescence was an indication that she had tapped into its energies in order to boost her strength…

"Don't think I don't see you up there, old man." Brit snapped coldly, instantly derailing Mog's train of thought. Scrambling to his feet, Mog rushed down the hallway as fast as his short legs could carry him.

As Brit casually mounted the staircase, still keeping pace, she added, "I never did get a chance to thank you _properly_ for my lovely new body."

Dashing into XJ9's bedroom and slamming the door shut behind him, Mog stopped to wonder at the relaxed, almost bored way that Brit had pursued him. She could have easily used her wings or even a strong jump to catch and gut him before Mog made it to shelter.

But she had allowed him to run…

...so she could follow him, he suddenly realized.

A crash landed on the opposite side of the reinforced bedroom door, making Mog jump and dash to the furthest corner of the bedroom, keeping Jenny's bed in between him and Brit's imminent intrusion. Glancing down to the feminine form concealed under the sheets of the bed, Mog breathed "I hope you're ready for this, dear."

As if on cue, the bedroom door came crashing in. Pausing a moment at the wrecked threshold, Brit confidently cracked her knuckles just to demonstrate how easily she had gotten through the house's defenses.

Stepping inside, Brit instantly recognized the bulging midsection and feminine frame of her arch-enemy Jenny, even obscured as she was by the blankets draped over her. Licking her lips in anticipation, Brit hissed "I'll deal with you some other time, Mog. At the moment I've got bigger fish to fry." Flexing her claws, Brit carefully reached out for the sheets and sharply pulled them away…

What stared back at Brit was a grotesque mockery of the human form. Like a scarecrow it drew its shape from the pile of wadded up laundry and knickknacks it was stretched out on top of. It wore a simple blue dress, and if it had been in better condition, the rosy cheeks and yarn-like red hair in pigtails would have reminded Brit of Raggedy Anne.

"What is this?!" Brit demanded, furious, but was only answered by the effigy's ragged grin and hollow, staring eyes. Turning her attention to the cowering Phineas Mog, Brit affixed him with a cold glare and stomped slowly forward. "You will tell me where she is, **right now**."

A small pinprick of pain struck Brit's elbow, making her pause. Inspecting her arm, she could see a tiny black electrode affixed to her skin, trailing a long black wire back to the bed. Back to the Raggedy-Anne scarecrow. The scarecrow that was now swaying, snakelike, several feet over the bed as it coiled to strike. A half dozen more of the tendril-like black wires flew out from the hideous thing on the bed and struck Brit like irritating bee stings, keeping her disoriented and rooted in place.

As Mog watched a few feet away, the coiled length of "Raggedy-Anne" struck forward and completely engulfed Brit Crust.

* * *

Jenny howled in pain.

"Ahhhng!" she wailed, her eyes screwed shut. "I feel like a balloon that's about to pop! Is there no way I could turn off my pain sensors? Or even just disconnect my head from my body until it's over? _Please?!_"

Shaking her head, Nora fussed about at the foot of Jenny's examination table, calibrating various metalworking tools that she would soon need. The robotics lab had quickly taken on the look of an operating room. Mrs. Wakeman was decked out in surgical scrubs, complete with a face mask, while Jenny was naked from the waist down and had her legs spread by stirrups holding her feet apart.

"I wish that you could Jenny, but if we're going to deliver this baby I'm going to need your body to do at least as much work as I am." Jenny's mother explained, adding "now I want you to give me a readout of the embryonic containment vessel's surface tension levels."

Jenny laid her head down, sighing anxiously. Her boyfriend Sheldon loomed over her, sympathetically wiping a dampened cloth over Jenny's forehead. A small hiss of steam testified of the stress Jenny was dealing with.

"Ok mom… checking… tension levels are at 94. Is that good?" Jenny answered, reading back the info from her internal sensors.

"It's enough." Nora replied, picking up a tool that looked like nothing more then a long, slender spike. "I'm going to start by piercing the protective fluid vessel surrounding the XJ1. That will give us a little room to work with."

As Nora motioned for Tiff to assist her, Jenny shut her eyes and groaned, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Though Tiff and Jenny had recently buried some of the ill will between them, neither was on the other's list of favorite people. And now, having her privates on display in front of one of the Crust cousins was an indignity, to say the least.

"'Taint no picnic for me neither." Tiff grumbled, echoing Jenny's sentiment.

Ignoring Tiff's comment, Nora handed her a pair of elongated needle-nose pliers. "Tiff, I'll need you to pry apart Jenny's cervical iris while I insert this needle to cause her water to break. The iris isn't designed to open once the pregnancy begins, so you'll need to put some muscle into it."

Doing as she was instructed, Tiff pushed the jaws of the pliers up Jenny's vagina and fitted them against the tightly clenched cervix at the opposite end.

"This is so weird." Tiff grunted, flexing her arms and forcing the pliers to part.

"Ouch!" Jenny yelped, feeling the pinch inside her nether regions. Lifting her head in an effort to peer over her enormous midsection, Jenny snapped "Be careful in there! Ow!"

"Just… try ta relax, or sumthin'." Tiff offered lamely, struggling with the pliers to lever open the portal to Jenny's womb another half inch. Nora approached with the elongated spike, edging Tiff off to one side.

"Alright, that should be enough." she mumbled, carefully guiding the probe through Jenny's tunnel and through the small opening of her cervix. Knowing she would need the precision of a surgeon if she wished to avoid harming the infant, Mrs. Wakeman leaned in for a better view, her face only inches from her daughter's sex. Testing the resistance of the amniotic sack, Nora gently applied greater and greater pressure. "Just… a little… more…" she breathed.

A _Pop!_ and a rush of fluid followed the bursting of Jenny's dam, releasing the pressure on Jenny's womb.

Confused, Jenny tried to get a better look at what was going on. "What was that? Did… did I wet myself?" she asked, concerned.

"Nope," Tiff answered for Nora as the older woman sputtered, removing her surgical mask and reaching for a handkerchief to mop up her drenched face.

With a sigh, Nora wryly commented "This whole process was a lot less messy as a blueprint."

Regaining her composure, Nora instructed Jenny. "Now that the water has broken, the reproductive organs will hopefully reset to their pre-pregnancy alignment. Jenny, go into your systems control menu and access the reproduction subroutines. I want you to select the settings for "cervix" and set them to a dilation of 100."

Jenny did as she was asked, and moments later Tiff and Nora watched the formerly clenched cervix now yawn open to become as wide as the rest of the vagina. Nora allowed herself a brief smile at the small victory.

"Good. Now, pull up the "contractions" tab and set the interval for every five minutes."

Watching the proceedings in front of him with great interest and concern, Sheldon casually remarked "This sounds a lot like someone's idea of tech-support."

The scene was interrupted by a worried shout issuing from one of the many computer screens, this one displaying a live feed from just outside the lab's heavy vault door.

"Let me in while there's still time!" demanded a harried looking Mog from outside the door. Hastening to get the door open, Sheldon ushered the diminutive scientist inside before resealing the doorway behind him. Wiping his brow with a pocket handkerchief, a much relieved Mog settled down on a convenient chair next to Sheldon's seat beside Jenny and began recounting the latest news.

"The plan worked, such as it was, and Brit is incapacitated. The last I saw, she was still wrestling with Jenny's old exo-skin and shouting like a maniac. I didn't want to stick around to find out who was going to win."

"How long do you think that buys us?" Jenny asked, trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of her mother's tools jury-rigging her reproductive system.

Phineas Mog shrugged, frowning. "If it were simply a physical contest, the exo-skin would have been shredded in seconds. But the exo-skin is programmed to make contact with the mind of its host. It all depends on the strength of Brit's mental state."

* * *

Brit thrashed, she howled, she kicked and spat. Like a madwoman Brit frothed at the mouth as she swore and clawed at the hot, smothering expanse of cybernetics attempting to mold itself over her entire body. The texture of it was like burlap where it brushed across her skin, while any portions of her mechanical armor that became covered were soon pierced by minuscule wires that felt like rose thorns digging their way into Brit's flesh.

Tearing handfuls of the creature away from her face, desperate to keep her airways open, Brit screamed out "What are you!?"

The answer came much more promptly then Brit had guessed.

_I'm your new best friend._ spoke a whisper in her head, a female voice that rasped like the burlap texture against her skin.

_Don't struggle. I'm only trying to help you._

"I don't want your help" growled Brit, dropping to her knees and struggling to move her arms. "All I want it XJ-9's head in my hands."

_You can't lie to me_ came the hoarse whisper, _I'm inside your thoughts now. I know what you really want. What I can give you. I can make you normal again. I can make you… make us… popular again._

Brit's struggles paused. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help but considered this.

Be normal again? Return to the life to social dominance and privilege?

_That's right_, the skin offered as it oozed over Brit's body, gradually draping her from head to toe, _you can be beautiful again. Start fresh. That's what I do… I help troubled teenage girls become beauty queens overnight. _

The skin had completely encased Brit's body now, leaving only her head exposed. And even that was rapidly disappearing as the skin crept over Brit's scalp and inched up her chin.

_Just relax_ the seductive voice soothed, _I'll be finished soon. We'll be closer then sisters, you and I. Like two halves of a perfect whole._

Somehow that sounded very appropriate to Brit. Closer then sisters… she had had that, once. Brit felt an unexpected wave of sadness emerge from her core. Moisture collected around her lower eyelids, and coalesced into a single tear that ran down her left cheek moments before being swallowed up by the cocoon-like living skin.

_**She already has a better half, interloper.**_ came a new voice, an alien voice that burned like fire inside of Brit's brain.

The first voice seemed to pause, hesitant.

_**You cannot offer her anything. You are not wanted here. **_Came the second voice again, regal, confident and very, very angry.

Brit opened her eyes, seeing only the darknessinside the mask of artificial skin she wore. She reached an arm out, desperate to find something to grab hold of and felt herself falling, toppling over.

_She wants this,_ argued the first voice in Brit's mind, _I can give her what she wants most of all. We will merge and I will remake Brit as the perfect, all-American, __**normal**__ teenage girl. I'm offering her __**happiness**__. You can't stop me._

_**You're wrong. I offer her more.**_

_**I offer her power.**_

_**I offer her hate.**_

_**I offer her REVENGE.**_

Brit thrashed blindly on the floor, muffled sobs mixing with gasps for air. Her arms and legs felt as though they were bound in a straightjacket made of tar. Hot air from her nostrils blew across her face, making her sweat, and was inhaled again as a stale oxygen-poor breath. The lack of air was causing vertigo to set in, making Brit's world spin around her. She wanted to vomit, but couldn't. She couldn't remember where she was.

…Tiff… Tiff where are you… You were always my little ace in the hole… You were supposed to watch my back… where are you Tiff, I need help…

_Let me fulfill my program. I can end your suffering!_ Insisted the suffocating skin clinging to Brit.

Needle-like microfilaments wormed their way through Brit's skull, seeking any receptive neurons to form a connection with.

_Just let me take control. Then everything will be okay. All you have to do is want it._

The microscopic wires squirmed through the chaotic mass of Brit's cerebellum. All that needed to be located were enough strong neural pathways, behavior or thought patterns repeated over and over to build a stable connection point for the voice to take hold of. Brit was weeping inside, her sadness overcoming her ability to think straight. She knew that wallowing in her misery would be the door that allows this invader into her mind, but she was unable to stop it from happening. She felt her limbs going numb as she lost motor control of her body.

_**Jenny. XJ9. Jennifer Wakeman.**_

The names blazed into Brit's mind like a sudden ray of light cutting through the consuming darkness. They sparked an ember of anger amidst the sea of Brit's sorrow.

_**Jenny is about to have a baby. She's going to be surrounded by friends and family and will be showered with praise and love. **_

The anger grew, was stoked into a flame of resentment and a fire of hatred.

_**She is singularly responsible for every insult and indignity you have ever suffered. She doesn't feel sorry and cannot be made to apologize.**_

Brit's mind burned. A blaze of fury, a towering inferno of pure rage. The feeling in her arms and legs returned, finding new strength.

_What are you doing? This isn't possible!_ Came a desperate and tiny voice from somewhere in the back of Brit's mind.

The tips of Brit's claws pierced the surface of her bindings, pushing cleanly and effortlessly through as she extended her arms.

_**And now she's laughing at you.**_

The emotions kept locked in Brit's mind, if unleashed into the universe, could have cracked planets.

The Exo-skin stood little chance.

Even before Brit had torn it apart like tissue paper, every resistor and circuit contained within it had been melted to slag. Brit peeled back her "cocoon", allowing it to drop to the floor in limp strips. A tentative step and a few quick flicks of her wings shook the last little drops of liquid metal from her body.

That was a dirty, dirty trick. Using Brit's own pain as a weapon against her. She had never expected something so underhanded from her opponent.

But she would make her pay.

Pay in spades.

"Hehehehaha**hahaha**_**HAHAHAHA!"**_

* * *

Jenny frowned suspiciously. Something had been eating at her ever since her mother informed her about the killswitch device. Now, hearing Mog describe in detail how Brit's mind may be susceptible to the exo-skin's attack had fed her suspicion.

"Just how do you know so much about Brit's new powers, anyway?" Jenny grilled Mog, pointing an accusatory finger with her free hand.

Understandably apprehensive, Mog shifted in his seat. "Did Noreen not mention that part? I, ah, I was the one who… reluctantly, mistakenly, under duress… implanted the Cluster components into the Crust girl."

"What?!" Jenny erupted, her temper flaring. "Mom, why is he even allowed in here? He's the whole reason all this is happening!"

Looking up from her work, Mrs. Wakeman did what she could to calm Jenny down. "I understand Jenny, believe me, I had the same thoughts when I first found out. But I really believe that there is no way he would intentionally try to hurt you…"

Unbelieving, Jenny demanded "What? How do you know that?"

"Because, in a way, Phineas Mog had a hand in your creation. Really, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him, so… you might even say that… he's your father."

Feeling faint, Jenny laid her head back against the table and groaned.

"Could this day _possibly get_ any _weirder_?!" she asked aloud.

A sudden thought crossing her mind made Jenny cringe, and prompted Sheldon to ask why she had made a grossed-out face.

"I just realized," Jenny answered, "that if Mog is my 'father', then that makes Kenny my brother. And YK9 was the first boy I ever open-mouth kissed."

"You frenched yo' brother? Dat's sick, girl." Commented Tiff, barely pausing from the task she was helping Mrs. Wakeman with. Thinking back to her own inadvertent witnessing of Nora and Mog's sexual interlude earlier that day, Tiff added "…and this' comin' from someone who's recently had their definition of 'sick' brought to new levels."

Nora piped up, "I keep telling you, that the sibling relationship doesn't have the same connotations for robots as it does for—

"AHHG!" Jenny suddenly exclaimed, lurching forward to clutch her belly and following it with a long drawn out groan of pain.

Nora jumped up from her seat "Oh, her contractions are starting! Places everyone!" prompting everyone in the room to scramble to their appointed tasks.

"Now Jenny, remember to breathe." Sheldon coached, holding Jenny's left hand in his own.

Mrs. Wakeman, sitting on a stool between Jenny's widespread legs, added "Forget the breathing, I need you to concentrate on pushing soon. Your body is going to naturally try to push the baby up out through your midsection, but since that's not an option anymore we're going to try to realign your internal servos. How's that coming Phineas?"

Rolled underneath the examination table like a mechanic working on a car, a somewhat oil-stained Phineas Mog held a two-handed socket driver into an open panel in Jenny's lower back. "I'm ready to adjust the ratchets, just tell me when she's about to push!" he called out in answer.

Counting down with a pocket watch, Jenny's mother warned "Get ready Jenny, when the next wave of contractions come you'll need to push down with every bit of hydraulic pressure you can muster. 5… 4… 3…"

"Nyyaahhh!" Jenny screamed, her entire body clenching in effort. Mog jabbed her with his power tools, relieving a small portion of the pain, but the magnitude of the contractions were still taxing the limits of Jenny's strength.

When the pain finally subsided and Jenny's body relaxed a little, only then did she realize how tightly she'd been gripping Sheldon's hand in her own. Since she was typically capable of reducing bricks into powder with little trouble, it wasn't surprising that Sheldon's hand looked a little worse for wear, like it had been through a garbage disposal.

"Oh, sorry hun…" she apologized and blushed, as Sheldon gingerly lifted his hand up for inspection.

Wiggling his fingers cautiously, Sheldon weakly offered "heh heh… well, nothing broken at least… Owwww."

"The servos are all properly aligned." Mog reported, slipping out from under the table and wiping his hands off on an oil-rag. "Jenny should be able to put her full strength into pushing the baby out now."

Nora nodded, stroking her chin nervously as her mind wrestling with the many variables involved. "If we're going to make any more progress, we'll need to widen the vaginal canal. I've been calculating and it's simply too tight to pass the baby's head."

Jenny tried to catch her mother's attention. "Mom, I seem to be having some power surges associated with the contractions. I nearly crushed Sheldon's hand! Do you think you could fix it?"

"Sorry dear, but we don't have time right now. We need to loosen you up before the next contractions hit." Nora pulled Tiff aside with her and went rummaging through the piles of mechanical equipment scattered about the lab.

Jenny shot Sheldon a puzzled look, "Loosen me up? What does that mean?"

"I just hope they'll be able to put you back after, whatever it is." Sheldon said.

Nora's exclamation of triumph signaled that she had found what she had been looking for. As Tiff helped her carry the heavy piece of machinery back to the examination table, Nora explained "The 'Jaws of Life': every scientist's secret weapon!"

Arranging the fearsome looking tool at the entrance to Jenny's womanhood, Jenny began to get very nervous. Tiff whistled, equally in awe at the size of the instrument about to flex its strength on Jenny's vagina, mentioning "I sure am glad I ain't you right now!"

Wincing, Jenny prepared herself for the invasive procedure. It didn't come however, as Nora was interrupted, her attention seized by the blaring of a nearby alarm system and the flashing of red warning lights.

"Brit's loose!" She declared, observing the tattered remains of what was once the Exo-skin trap they had prepared. "Given how quickly she was able to force her way through the front door, I doubt we have more then three or four minutes before she gets through the remaining bulkheads."

Everyone fells silent for a moment, exchanging worried looks, until Jenny cried out.

"That doesn't mean my contractions are stopping!" She barked, her body once more wracked with pain as every ounce of her strength attempted to expel her unborn child. Tiff hurried to employ the 'Jaws of Life', the huge levers prying Jenny's vaginal walls far enough apart to ease the passage of the baby.

"Ahhhh!" Jenny screamed, convulsing as a few minor circuits sizzled and popped with excess electrical energy. Grimacing in pain, Jenny suddenly shouted "Shit piss dog lick motherfucker!"

Even given their dire situation, that made everyone pause for a half second out of sheer astonishment. "Daaamn!" exclaimed Tiff, to which Nora agreed "Damn indeed!"

"Oops, was that me?" Jenny apologized, her body settling down again. She blushed, explaining "I'm sorry, it's the darn power surges. Some random systems are activating against my control."

"It's only going to get worse I'm afraid" said Nora, grabbing a jackhammer like tool from her workbench and approaching Jenny. "We're running out of time, so we're going to need to cut some corners. Jenny, open up the 'contractions' menu and set the time interval to the minimum one minute apart."

Another warning light flashed, bathing the lab in a red glow. "Another defensive wall has been breached!" called out Mog from the computer console, looking for anything that might buy them more time. "We're at estimated T-minus two minutes and counting!"

Ignoring him, Nora clambered up onto the examination table next to Jenny and leveled the jackhammer-instrument against Jenny's pregnant belly. "I'm going to help you push dear. This will probably hurt quite a lot."

The next wave of contractions came, and as soon as Jenny screamed Nora activated the hammer, keeping it trained on her daughter's armored belly, hoping that some of the force from the hammer's vibrations was making it past Jenny's impact-resistant design.

"Fucker cunt shit asshole puke cock!" Jenny blathered, her face turning red from a combination of her cursing and the extreme pain she was forced to endure.

"Push Jenny! **PUSH!**" Nora yelled to be heard over the din of Jenny's stream of profanity.

"It's workin'! I can see the head!" called Tiff, just as Jenny's contraction ended and Nora ceased her hammering.

Jenny felt nearly delirious, laughing and crying at the same time. It was almost over.

Almost.

"You're doing great Jenny, just keep bearing down with everything you've got when the next contractions come and—

"We've got less then a minute!" Mog called, "There's only one wall left between Brit and the lab door" he informed, indicating the heavy metal seal on the opposite side of the room, less then twenty yards from Jenny.

Nora threw up her hands in frustration, "We need more time! We're not ready yet!"

Jenny was surprised by a peck on her cheek from Sheldon. "I'm sorry" he stated flatly, and sprung to his feet.

Dashing to the lab door, everyone instantly understanding what he intended to do, and Jenny was the only one who made any move to stop him. Reaching out with an arm she wailed "NO! Sheldon, don't do it!"

"Please!" she pleaded, her last chance before Sheldon had sealed the door shut behind him, a silent "I love you" on the lips of his face the last sight Jenny caught of him.

Jenny's cries were interrupted by the next series of contractions in her belly, her body tearing itself apart in order to push her infant free. Nora's began shouting instructions at twice the pace she had been, and Tiff braced herself against the table in order to exert as much strength as she could offer.

They all knew the sacrifice Sheldon was making, and would see that the time he would buy them would be used well. Even Mog rushed over to Jenny's side to try to fill the gap that Sheldon had left, coaching and consoling Jenny as best he was able to. Besides, he had no real desire to watch the video screens displaying what was about to happen just outside the lab's sealed door.

* * *

Waiting in silence, the only illumination being cast by a series of sterile fluorescent panels in the ceiling, Sheldon counted down the seconds. He wanted to be in the lab, with his fiancée and mother to his child. He wanted to cut its umbilical cord, to bundle it in blankets and place it gently in Jenny's arms.

But he was needed here.

A shriek of metal on metal announced Brit's arrival. The far wall ruptured, was peeled away, and crumbled to admit Brit into the room. Spotting Sheldon, Brit smirked.

"Well well well. Am I to understand that _you_ are the last line of defense? _Pfeh._"

"You're not getting through this door, Brit." Sheldon declared resolutely, his face a cold scowl.

"…_Over your dead body_, don't you mean?" Brit joked, "…and then I would reply 'That's the idea'. Or 'If you insist', or something like that. You're not very good at heroic banter, you know."

Sheldon said nothing, his expression as unchanged as a statue. Brit took a small step forward, careful to move slowly enough that the gesture would not be mistaken as a threat.

"But then, you're not good at much of anything heroic, are you? You're not a real super-hero like your girlfriend. You're just a nerd who cobbled together some junk in his garage.

"My, there's no question who is wearing the pants in that relationship, is there?" Brit sauntered forward, leaning into her carefully measured steps. "I'm not even going to try to offer you a deal here. I know you wouldn't be smart enough to take it, and frankly I am going to really enjoy killing you anyway. But I do want you realize that later, when they collect most of your pieces? That's what I'll have engraved on your forehead. '_Here lies Sheldon Lee: A devoted stalker, servile sidekick, and all around pathetic loser._'

The attack came with the speed of a flash of lightning, Brit's claws reaching forward to rake across Sheldon's chest plate. He had allowed her to get too close, distracted by her words. He swung with his heavy fists, pushing Brit a step away as she moved to avoid his massive arms.

It bought him a second to move, turning a lethal strike to his neck into a merely disfiguring cut to the side of his face. Brit was like liquid fire, always moving, flowing in unpredictable undulations that made it impossible to tell where the next attack would come from. Sheldon did what he could to make things difficult for her, forcing her to dodge past his titanic punches in order to get to him.

Still, Sheldon hated to admit it, but Brit was right. He was just a technically-minded high school student, not a superhero, and certainly not an alien warlord with unparalleled combat experience.

How many planets had Vexus conquered in her time? How many enemy generals and champions had she dispatched with her own two hands?

All that training and battle-honed skill was alive in Brit now.

A claw whipped past Sheldon's fist, turning and slipping under his defenses and stabbing into a point in his side where the seams of his armor met. It withdrew just as quickly, too quickly for Sheldon to land a retaliatory punch, but it tore up a visible chunk of Sheldon's chassis on its way out.

A few more like that and the "Silver Shell" wouldn't have his shell to protect him anymore.

But he didn't have to survive, Sheldon reminded himself, he just needed to buy Jenny more time.

Switching tactics, Sheldon released a burst of harmless pyrotechnics in front of Brit's face, slowing and agitating her. Those had been invented by Sheldon as one of several showy attempts to impress Jenny, back before she had learned Silver Shell's secret.

Brit dashed to one side, circling around to flank her enemy. Another swipe of Brit's claws slashed down the length of Sheldon's back, tearing out a chunk of his armor and a few bits of machinery with it. The power for Silver Shell's optic lasers went offline before he'd ever had a chance to use them.

Sheldon pitched himself forward to escape her attacks, needing to put some distance between them again. Thinking quickly he jettisoned the fuel tanks for his flight systems, and fired a shot from his pellet/rail-gun as the fuel cells rolled across the floor, piercing the tanks and igniting a surprise fireball in the middle of the room.

The room was now filled with fire, though thankfully there weren't a lot of flammable materials to keep it burning. In the blaze Sheldon lost track of Brit however. Was it too much to hope that she had been incinerated?

Bursting through the flames Brit proved herself to still be very much alive, if slightly singed.

"That hurt!" she snapped, throwing a vicious kick into Sheldon's solar plexus.

Sheldon threw up his arms to block additional attacks, but Brit's agile hands weaved right past them and grabbed Sheldon by the chin. With a single heave Brit turned and flung Sheldon over her shoulder, slamming him flat on his back against the ground. The floor tiles under the Silver Shell's massive body shattered, sending up a cloud of dust and a rush of air that put out many of the smaller fires.

Turning, Brit stepped up to the lab's thick vault door and gripped the heavy wheel handle, straining against the lock. Magnetically sealed, the door would normally only open from inside, or with the correct access code punched in to a small panel on the front.

Brit didn't have either of those, so she would have to force it open. Trying to spin the wheel-handle of the door was like trying to twist the top off of a fire hydrant with your bare hands, surely well beyond what any normal person was capable of. But Brit was not a normal person.

"Time to claim my prize" she grinned, determined to force the vault door open. Even putting the full force of her prodigious strength into twisting the handle, the sturdy computer controlled lock did not immediately spring open. Try as she may, only the handle creaked and groaned, the metal starting to twist from Brit's efforts. It was only a matter of time.

"We're not finished yet" sounded Sheldon's voice from behind Brit, his huge robotic hand seizing her around the middle. He pulled her away from the door, but Brit refused to release her grip, eventually pulling the handle clean off the door.

Brit growled and flexed her hands on the cast-iron wheel she held, frustrated by being presented with yet another delay.

Twisting her body about unnaturally Brit swung the wheel as a weapon, slapping it across Sheldon's face and forcing him to drop her to the ground. Brit sprung back as soon as her heels touched the floor, launching herself at the stunned Sheldon and pummeling him with additional attacks. Punches to the face kept Sheldon disoriented, body blows to his abdominal cavity pressed him back against the wall, and kicks of surgical precision to his legs sent him toppling over into a heap.

The ruined metal door handle had made a decent weapon before, and Brit decided to make use of it again. Straddling the dented chest of the fallen Sheldon, Brit raised the warped lump of metal and brought it down on Sheldon's cranium.

"You're really _that_ disconnected from reality, aren't you?" Brit queried rhetorically. "I'm going to beat you to death now, costing me valuable seconds, because **you're** too **stupid** to get it."

The weapon landed again, shattering Sheldon's left eye and leaving him half blind.

"Let me spell it out for you:" Brit lowered her voice and hissed, "You're not a super-hero, genius!"

"This _isn't_ a comic book. The safety of the world _isn't_ depending on you. There _isn't_ going to be a 'next time', a 'too be continued', or even a quaint "once again the day is saved…"

Blows rained down with each swing of Brit's arms, Sheldon's face and head starting to look like the hood of a car in a demolition derby. Through the blur of pain, Sheldon pushed back with both arms, shoving Brit back enough to give him the room to turn over onto his front and try to crawl away.

Try to get his bearings, get to his feet, figure out a strategy. Anything that might—

"Oof!" Sheldon wheezed, Brit landing heavily on his back and knocking his knees out from under him.

Seizing the back of his head in one hand, Brit shoved Sheldon's face against the floor.

It can't end like this. Not this fast.

Jenny needed more time, Sheldon repeated in his head, his death was supposed to buy her more time!

Brit raised her crude club high into the air once more, and brought it down on the back of Sheldon's skull. The metallic sound of each strike echoed through the cavernous room, each hit driving Sheldon's face deeper into the ruined floor.

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

It sounded like railroad spikes being hammered into the ground. Sheldon struggled to find purchase, to draw more energy to his limbs to give them the strength they needed to get himself upright again.

Rerouting systems and making emergency circuit bypasses in his head would have been hard enough on a normal day, and now every time he made progress his thoughts were scattered by another—

_Clang!_

How could he let Jenny down like this? All he wanted was to protect her. To save the girl who was always saving everybody else. But Brit was right: he was no super hero.

_Clang! Clang!_

A few more should do it, and his skull would cave in, his delicate computer brain smashed to pieces.

Then Brit would be free to storm into the lab and terrorize Jenny and their newly born baby. Sheldon couldn't bear the thought of the baby, its life stolen away before it had even begun. He had failed to protect it, the one task it had counted its father for.

_Clang!_

The warning buzzers were blaring inside Sheldon's head now, warning of the imminent structural collapse. The next blow would finish him.

The world may not have been counting on him, but his child was. And Jenny, the brave girl in the next room who was moving Heaven and Earth to bring a new life into the world. A life he was responsible for. He was no hero.

But he _was_ a Dad.

The world could burn for all he cared, but he wouldn't fail Jenny and their baby. He refused.

Sheldon's left arm shot out and behind him, wrenching from its own shoulder socket and breaking the elbow joint backwards. Pain shot through his entire left side like red-hot lightning, and he knew that the arm would be useless from that point on.

It didn't matter, he didn't need to actually lift with the arm.

He just needed to hold Brit in place.

And now he had her face held tightly in his hand. Her muffled shriek of indignity was the sweetest sound Sheldon had ever heard.

Straightening his legs, Sheldon kept his head tucked low and braced himself with his right arm like a linebacker readying to charge. His left arm was a vice, keeping Brit pinned to his broad, flat back.

With everything he had Sheldon _moved_, slamming himself into the concrete wall a few feet in front of him.

Brit was helplessly caught between Sheldon's armor plate and the unyielding wall, crushed like a bug. Backing up a half foot Sheldon pushed forward again and again, carving a gash in the concrete where Brit was repeatedly being ground against it. He only stopped when his ruined left arm finally tore loose of his body, falling to the floor still holding onto Brit's unconscious body.

Unconscious body. It didn't seem possible. He'd won?

He'd won!

"HA!" he barked involuntarily, stumbling a few steps away from the defeated Crust girl. Falling to his knees, Sheldon's ruined mouth attempted to mold itself into a smile as he laughed uncontrollably.

Winning Olympic gold after running a marathon wouldn't have felt this good.

He was alive!

One arm and one eye were gone, and his face probably looked like a piece of modern art, but he was still alive.

For a full minute he simply rested, basking in the high that came with winning. Then the thought occurred to him that the baby was probably moments away from being born, and that if he remained here he would miss the momentous occasion. Sheldon hated to think that the first memory his new son or daughter would have of him would be looking like he did, but he couldn't wait to see them anyway.

His body ached to move, but he would bear it. He could bear anything.

Stumbling drunkenly over to the lab's door, Sheldon leaned his weight against it and gingerly tapped in the access code. It seemed like forever ago that had been down here being taught the entry code, Dr. Wakeman's new young assistant, his dream job. Life had a weird way of coming full circle.

The computer registered the code and unlocked the door, and with his one good arm Sheldon swung the vault door wide open. Inside the lab it was chaos, everyone rushing this way and that in an effort to assist Jenny with her labor. But even with the impending childbirth to deal with, everyone paused and took a breath when Sheldon opened the door.

"I did it!" he announced to everyone inside, "I beat Brittany Crust!"

_**Yours is the strength of Queens**_ whispered a voice within Brit's unconscious brain. _**You will rise, resurrected, and take what is yours.**_

"Sorry, but not in this lifetime" came Brit's curt reply from behind him. Spinning to face her, Sheldon had just enough time to gasp.

Recovered, she stood bathed in a bright inner glow, her eyes and breastplate radiating especially brightly.

"You thought you'd beaten me?" she laughed, "I can control reality!"

A flick of her wrist and a sharp gesture with her skeletal claws, accompanied by a brief flash from inside Brit's chest. That was all the warning Sheldon received before being neatly severed at the waist.

Falling to the floor in two distinct pieces, Sheldon caught a brief glance of his own legs falling in the opposite direction as he toppled onto his side. A mess of tangled wires and tubing fell out of the bottom of Sheldon's chest cavity, which Brit didn't mind casually stepping on as she approached.

"You took me by surprise, I'll grant you that" Brit offered rather contemptuously. She pointed her right arm at Sheldon's head, waiting a second to savor the moment. Ending Sheldon's life in full view of Jenny made this twice as satisfying.

Sheldon's consciousness slipped, reality starting to black out. But he grinned up at Brit. He had seen who was standing behind her.

A shot rang out and a piece of Brit's back exploded, sending her crashing to the floor. A few feet behind her stood Brad Carbunkle wielding the rail gun taken from Sheldon's severed left arm, the barrel smoking from the discharge he had just fired. Brad was barefoot, dressed in scrub pants and a hospital gown worn reversed as a sort of jacket. Gauze bandages completely covered his chest like some living mummy, and more were tied around his head like a bandana.

All of this did nothing to lessen the fierce look in his eye. Cocking the gun that had been concealed in Sheldon's dismembered arm, Brad called out "Ready for round two, **bitch?!**"

Pulling herself to her feet, Brit's soft chuckle slowly grew in intensity.

"Oh Bradley, you look ridiculous. Such a shame that you're going to die without a shred of style or dignity. I'd have been happy to give you a makeover, but sadly I'm rather pressed for time right now."

Brit raised her right hand in Brad's direction, calling forth the soft glow from the Pip crystal tucked safely under her armor. Her fingertips twitched, hesitating on exactly what form her hatred for Brad would manifest itself in the physical world.

"I'm afraid I have no choice but to dispatch you quickly, so I think I'll just boil your blood and be done with it."

Brad flinched, attempting to dodge the beam of light that struck out from Brit's palm. But as sharp as his reflexes were, he had no hope of outrunning an attack made at the speed of thought.

The Pip crystal's destructive energies hit Brad squarely in the chest, tearing a scream of pain from his throat and dropping him to his knees. Smoke sizzled off Brad's body, filling the basement with a sterile ammonia smell, making Brit grin with sadistic delight. Brad's screams mixed with those coming from Jenny inside the lab, and Brit wondered if this could possibly get any better.

But he didn't die.

His heart should have exploded, but it hadn't. Frustrated, Brit brought her left arm to bear on Brad as well, doubling the output of energy. She concentrated, calling to mind how much Brad meant to Jenny, how much Brad meant to Tiff.

How very much she would like to see him die.

She imagined his head detonating like a grenade, or his skin peeling off in strips like drying paint. Blood, pain and death was all she wished him. And her weapon, the crystal, would make her wishes into reality.

Brad's yell of agony subsided as he gritted his teeth, mastering the pain.

The stream of violent energy continued to pour forth from Brit's hands, the tremendous forces it contained blowing Brad's hair about as though he were caught in a fierce wind. The bandages protecting Brad's chest split and waved about like streamers in the storm, still vainly attempting to cling to Brad's body for as long as they could.

Beads of sweat coated Brad's face, but still he refused to _die_.

Brit couldn't understand why Brad hadn't melted or exploded or vaporized, and then she saw the answer. Underneath the bandages, something in Brad's chest _glowed_.

It was the scar she had given him. The four jagged slashes down his front were taking in all the energy she was using to assault Brad with, the scars were _feeding on the energies of the Pip crystal_.

Brit gasped, cutting off the flow of energy. It was all the opportunity Brad needed. Leveling the gun at Brit, Brad pulled the trigger and fired it point blank into her chest.

The force of the shot lifted Brit clear off the ground and smashed her against the opposite basement wall. She lay sprawled out on the ground, a small dent in the wall testifying to where her head had impacted.

But more importantly, Brad could see that the shot had taken a chunk out of the armor on Brit's chest. Not a huge piece, in fact it looked more like the plunging neckline of some fashionable top Brit might have worn to go clubbing. But it revealed something much more crucial; nestled in the cleavage between Brit's breasts was the softly glowing Pip crystal, its surface now flawed by a single oblong crack down its center.

Brad approached cautiously, his gun still trained firmly on Brit. Reaching forward with his left hand Brad plucked the crystal from Brit's bosom, then immediately took two steps back, knowing that even without the Crystal Vexus' abilities made Brit terribly dangerous to be close to.

Brit coughed loudly, recovering her senses. She glared evilly at Brad, or more precisely the crystal held tightly in Brad's hand.

"Just stay right there." Brad warned, his gun still aimed directly at Brit's heart.

Slowly, cautiously, Brit got up from the uncomfortable position she had landed in, making no sudden moves.

Brad waved the gun, shouting "I said stay put!"

Brit raised her arms in a gesture of surrender. Her right hand trembled slightly, and when she conspicuously leaned forward a small electronic device tumbled out of her armor, clattering noisily to the floor.

Taking no chances, Brad asked "What's that? Another secret weapon?"

"You might say that. I believe in being prepared." Brit purred, being evasive.

Brad gestured with the crystal, instructing "Kick it over to me. Keep your hands in the air."

Brit cautiously did as she was told, reaching a slender leg out to the mysterious little gizmo. The point of her toe prodded the device, and stepped on a large red power button, turning on a small screen as she kicked it over to Brad.

Never taking his eyes off of Brit, Brad stooped to pick up the device in his left hand, holding it between thumb and forefinger. On the video display was Brad's little brother Tuck in what Brad recognized as Tuck's bedroom, bound and gagged! Worse, Tuck was attached to a crude device that looked something like a bear trap with some wires trailing from it, the metal jaws ready to snap shut on Tuck's neck at any moment. And if the number in the lower corner of the screen, displaying **28**… **27**… **26**… was correct, that moment was soon!

Looking back from the video display, Brad noticed Brit was grinning at his distress.

"That's a real-time feed, so I'd get moving if I were you. I do hope you're a good sprinter."

The decision was made before the question had time to form in Brad's head. Dropping the video device and the heavy rail gun Brad dashed to the exit, bounding up the flight of stairs and deftly maneuvering past every piece of debris or other hurdle.

Brit allowed him to get out of sight and then walked over to the lab's entrance. Picking up the disembodied lower half of the Silver Shell, Brit crammed them into the doorjamb to prevent it from being closed any time in the near future.

Casting a glance into the lab where Jenny, Tiff and the others waited, Brit sneered. "I'll be back to deal with _you…_ **soon**." She warned, and then turned around. Extending her wings Brit took to the air, zipping off in pursuit of Brad and her lost crystal.

Inside the lab proper, Brit's departure did very little to defuse the tension in the air. Throughout the entire battle Jenny had continued to struggle in her labor, gradually pushing the baby further and further down her birth canal.

Sheldon, and now Brad, had bought her some extra time, but she still had work to do and Brit _would_ be back soon enough. Jenny only had a short breather before the next contractions began, so with the time she had she asked Mog to go check on Sheldon.

"He appears to be okay," Mog informed her after checking the robot boy's vitals. "His brain has temporarily shut down to conserve power. His legs and one arm are gone, but that can be repaired later. As long as he doesn't take any more damage, he should be fine."

Jenny sighed, relieved.

"Are you ready dear? We're almost done now." Jenny's mother assured her. "Give it everything you've got and we may be able to deliver the baby right now."

Jenny nodded resolutely and readied herself for more of the painful contractions. Her mother and Phineas Mog were on either side of her, manning a cornucopia of tools and equipment that would help Jenny to push. Between her legs was Tiff, wielding a set of tongs that were inserted into Jenny's body cavity, preparing to grasp and pull the baby in time with Jenny's next push.

Everyone was ready, waiting on Jenny.

"Here it comes!" Jenny stated, gripping the table with both hands. Everything inside Jenny's body below her heart began pushing downward, trying to force the XJ-1 out through her narrow passage. Tiff pulled as hard as she could, Mog worked some sort of sonic device that was thrumming against Jenny's belly, and Nora rushed about making minor adjustments to everything in an effort to keep Jenny's body from tearing itself open in the process.

Jenny's fingers gouged handfuls out of the table, and an unending stream of curse words were muttered under her breath and mixed with her soft crying.

"More Jenny… Push!" Her mother encouraged, as if Jenny wasn't already giving it everything she had.

Her control slipped, and Jenny released a pained wailing "Yaaaahhhh!"

Then, finally, release.

"It's out!" came Tiff's joyous exclamation, followed by happy shouts from the two elderly scientists.

Jenny heard the sound of the baby crying, and her heart soared. She would never have believed it before right now, but it was all worth it.

Nora rushed to take the baby from Tiff, swaddling it in blankets and fussing about with the umbilical cord or something. Jenny couldn't see what, but she could hear the baby crying and knew it was alright.

Jenny wiped the tears from her cheeks and watched her mother approach, a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"Someone would like to say hello." Nora smiled, placing the baby in Jenny's waiting arms.

"Hello," Jenny said softly, gazing at the delicate new person before her.

The baby's face was instantly recognizable as an amalgam of features from Jenny and Sheldon. A tiny white face was topped by a small region of "hair" the same shade of steel gray as the Silver Shell's armor, and a small pair of stubby antennae reminded Jenny of both the Silver Shell's crest as well as her own pigtails. Quite surprisingly a single slightly crooked tooth poked out of the XJ-1's mouth, looking just like the buck teeth Sheldon's human self had once possessed.

Jenny's smile was radiant, utterly captivated by her own creation. Most of all by the eyes that were exactly like hers, returning her gaze with curiosity of its own.

"It's a girl." Jenny breathed, knowing instinctively.

A tiny hand reached up and touched Jenny on her cheek. "Gg." The baby gurgled.

"Mom?" Jenny asked, "Does she want something?"

The baby's arms waved about and her tiny mouth yawned open. Looking up to her mother for guidance, Jenny asked "Do you think she's hungry?"

"Don't look at me." Nora stated with a chuckle, throwing her hands up defensively. "It's your baby."

Undoing her top, Jenny pulled out one heavy breast, being extra careful not to jostle the little XJ-1 as she moved. With a touch of her finger the nipple stood at attention, exposing the connection points that the baby would need to feed and download data from. Touching the nipple against the baby's mouth, Jenny cooed happily when the she suddenly latched on and began suckling. Soon enough the baby's arms ceased their flailing, its eyes closed and with a sigh, fell asleep.

Jenny felt her mother's hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her smiling down approvingly.

Tiff and Mog stood a short distance away, looking on as three generations of Wakeman ladies embraced, a scene of perfect serenity. Despite their dire situation, neither spectator had the heart to interrupt Jenny and her daughter. The way that the new mother beamed with pride and glowed with satisfaction had a way of distilling silence throughout the lab, muting the distant sounds of fighting and conflict that continued outside. So much pure, unconditional love was being focused on the quietly feeding newborn that it had become a tangible force, drawing more of the same emotions out from Tiff and Nora and Mog and anyone else that may've looked on.

If only it could have lasted forever.

Sadly, Jenny knew her work was not yet done.

"Jenny," her mother spoke reluctantly, but Jenny cut her off.

"I know mom. I still need to stop Brit."

Nora nodded, sorry to separate her daughter and her granddaughter so soon.

"I'm afraid we'll have to assume the worst. Bradley's intervention gave us the time we needed, but he can't stand up to Brit on his own. And in your condition, I don't think you can either."

Jenny tried to stretch her legs, and stopped herself as aches and pains instantly manifested in her entire lower half.

"You're right. At least not before I can recharge and let my self-repair circuits do some work. But what other option do we have?"

"Well, there is one idea that I'd been considering. I really hesitate to use it, as it would really be putting all our eggs in one basket, but…" Nora frowned. "I guess we really don't have a choice anymore. Brit probably knows about the killswitch because of Mog's first attempt to use it when she first went berserk in his lab. Since you're still our strongest fighter, she'll certainly expect you to be equipped with it, so our only hope is to give you as much firepower as possible to improve your odds. I'll need yourself and Mog to accompany me to the storage area. We can perform **the** upgrade there."

"Upgrade?" Jenny asked, surprised. Not because she didn't know what her mother was referring to. With that much emphasis put on it, there was really only one upgrade she could be referring to. But despite everything else that had happened, today and over the past three months, Jenny still wasn't sure if she was ready. She was unsure, but excited also. Glancing down at the bundle of joy she held, Jenny wished that she wouldn't have to leave her daughter so soon.

But then again, perhaps… a sneaky thought occurred to Jenny, "Mom, I may have an idea about that…"

Interrupting herself, Jenny turned and motioned Tiff over to her with a gesture.

"Tiff, I really want to thank you for everything you did to help me today. I know you and I haven't always been on great terms, and then there was the whole thing with Brad and—"

Tiff put up a hand to silence Jenny, clearly uncomfortable with Jenny's gratitude. "R'lax. It's cool. Y' don't gotta make a big deal outta it."

Jenny smiled. "I'm happy for you and Brad. And, when all this is over with, I'd like it if you and I could be friends too."

Tiff gave a short nod, unsure exactly how to respond to the situation. "Che. Sure." She replied gruffly.

Jenny smiled, knowing that was about as positive a response as she could've hoped for. "Could I ask you one other little favor?"

"Hold my daughter for me?" Jenny asked, gently handing the newborn to Tiff before Tiff could refuse.

For her part, Tiff just about froze, too scared of mishandling the baby to try any sort of movement. The baby quickly sensed the change in its surrounding and woke up. Soon enough Tiff was fighting to keep the squirming infant in place without upsetting it.

"Thanks Tiff, I owe you again!" said Jenny as Nora and Mog helped her off of the delivery table.

"Wait, whatta I do wit' dis thing?" Tiff complained, as the baby reached for one of her earrings and tugged roughly on it.

"Ow… owwww!" Tiff whined, fighting to free herself from the little robot girl's grasp. Looking down, Tiff noticed that the XJ-1 had somehow grabbed Mog's killswitch device off the nearby equipment tray, and had immediately shoved it in its tiny mouth to suckle and chew on like a pacifier. Tiff wasted no time in snatching the gizmo away from the baby, and shoved it in her back pocket before anyone had noticed her lack of babysitting skills.

The baby began to wail, wanting its toy back.

"Y'know, you're a lot like yr' mom. You've only been here five freakin' minutes an already yer a pain in mah butt!" Tiff complained once Jenny and the others were out of sight and earshot.

Lacking any better solutions, Tiff offered her index finger to the XJ-1 as a replacement pacifier. The baby eagerly accepted the fingertip and settled down. Tiff felt it start to suckle, instinctively searching for a port to download data from.

After witnessing Jenny's labor Tiff had been just about ready to go and have her tubes tied at the first opportunity. But now, standing here with the baby in her arms, she was having second thoughts about that.

This wasn't half bad.

"Yeowch!" Tiff yelped when the baby unexpectedly bit down with its lone tooth. "Oh, y'r teethin' already hunh? Mebbe that explains why you're such a handful."

Withdrawing her finger, Tiff could see the baby was ready to start crying again, so she switched tactics. Clearing her throat, she began.

"_Hush little baby,_

_Don't say a word._

_This song is a bit absurd._

_But if you don't wanna hear me sing,_

_Momma's gonna give you an ASCII string._

_And if that ASCII string gets hacked,_

_Momma's gonna get you a software crack._

_And if that software crack has bugs,_

_Momma's gonna give you lots of hugs."_

Tiff glanced down and noticed that Jenny's baby had drifted off to sleep again so she ceased her improved lullaby. Hunh, that was easier then she thought. Maybe one day… waaaay in the future, mind you… she could get Brad to give her one of these of her own.

Worried, Tiff prayed that Brad was ok.

* * *

Lungs burning, bare feet blistering, and muscles straining, Brad dashed at full speed up the stairs of his house. In his head he counted down the remaining seconds.

6… 5… 4… Brad flung open the door to Tuck's bedroom, spotting his brother tied to a chair in the middle of the room, the deadly booby trap about to go off.

3… 2… Brad dashed forward, seizing the jaws of the trap with his bare hands.

1…

Brad flung the thing into the air, saving Tuck from a messy decapitation and just barely avoiding losing some fingers himself. With a _Snap!_ the trap went off, biting down on empty air and clattering to the ground. Not wasting time thinking about the close call, Brad instead focused on untying Tuck's bonds.

Once freed, Brad yanked the piece of duct tape from Tuck mouth and picked his brother up in a hug.

"Brad, you saved me!" Tuck exclaimed_,_ touching his stinging lips and adding "…and 'ow', by the way."

Before they could celebrate further, Tuck ended the hug and exclaimed "Brad, look out!"

Standing in the doorway was Brit, the slightly cracked Pip crystal in hand.

"Drop something?" she asked rhetorically, before replacing the gem in her visible cleavage.

Brad pushed Tuck behind him, trying to shield his brother. "Why are you doing this Brit? Just leave us alone!" he demanded, though he lacked a weapon or any sort of bargaining chip at all.

"Oh no, _you_ nearly cost me my victory back there. That was very resourceful by the way, I'm beginning to understand what Tiff sees in you" said Brit, approaching menacingly.

"But the fact of the matter is that I also **HATE** you, so you have to die. Your little brother I _might_ leave alive, if he fills out when he's older he might make a nice cabana boy."

"I have no idea how you became immune to the crystal's abilities" stated Brit, reaching forward and seizing Brad by his collar. She was easily able to hoist Brad off the ground, his struggles meaningless to her. Grinning evilly, she looked Brad over and drifted into a monologue. "Obviously it has something to do with that scar I gave you. But otherwise you seem to still be just a normal teenager, so I have no trouble finishing you off _the old fashioned way_."

Kicking and thrashing for all he was worth, there didn't seem to be much Brad could do to stop her. Over his shoulder, Brad spotted Tuck sneaking to his bed, pull out something from under his pillow…

Raising a weird pink jar over his head, Tuck yelled, "Go genie go!" and smashed it on the floor, releasing a burst of thick pink and purple vapor.

Brit paused and turned, "Genie?" she asked incredulously.

The rose colored mist swirled in the air in front of them in a whirling chaotic twister. "For my first wish… get 'er!" commanded Tuck pointing a finger at Brit, who was still to unbelieving to move.

The cloud coalesced, starting with a slim feminine foot and moving up the leg and body until every trace of the gas had been absorbed into the now solidified form of Misty.

"I've been waiting a long time for this." Misty growled, and snapped a kick into Brit's face.

Brad fell to the ground, Brit's grip loosened by Misty's attack. More followed the first, a barrage of kicks and punches and hand chops and nerve strikes, faster then either of the Carbunkle boys could see with the naked eye.

In a sarcastic, fraudulently polite tone of voice, Misty said "To answer your earlier question, Brit; as it turns out, no, my gas form doesn't need to eat or breathe."

Her expression shifted to one of impressive rage, and Misty smashed another trio of rapid punches into Brit's face.

"...But I do still occasionally **need to pee!**"

A momentary transformation into vapor assisted Misty in performing a leaping double-kick, slamming both legs into Brit's belly and sending the villain hurtling out the door of the bedroom and out into the hall. Turning to Brad and Tuck, she instructed "You two look for an opening to get out of here. I'll take care of Ms. Crust" and then took to the air to follow her opponent.

"Misty, wait!" Brad cried and reached a hand out to stop her, to warn her about Brit's reality-warping Pip crystal. But it was too late, Misty had already gone off to continue the battle against Brit. Before he too could rush out into the hallway and back into the fray, Brad felt Tuck's hand at his pant leg trying to get his attention.

Glancing down, Brad asked "What is it little buddy?"

"Thank you for saving me Brad" said Tuck, before Brad received the biggest hug that he could remember getting from his little brother.

"And there's something else I need to tell you too." Tuck continued, his voice dropping to a sad whisper, "Something about mom and dad…"

* * *

Misty pressed forward, throwing kicks and punches in such rapid succession that Brit had no time to retaliate. Though her cybernetic armor protected her from the worst of it, Misty's martial arts training and powers gave her the edge.

Misty's speed allowed her to remain on the offensive, and given time, she would break through Brit's defenses. The indignity of having been bottled up and left to die provided Misty with an abundance of anger-fueled stamina, and she knew that so long as she didn't make the same mistake of trying to read Brit's cracked mind, her victory was only a matter of time. Already she had forced the fight out of the Carbunkle house and out into the chill December air on the front lawn. But the really infuriating thing was how Brit's amused smile never faded.

No matter how many kicks to the neck or punches to the face Brit took, that cold, skeletal grin never left her features.

And try as she might, Misty just couldn't get Brit to _fall_.

"You know, I don't want you to think that I'd forgotten about you Misty." Brit finally spoke, exploiting a momentary break in Misty's attacks to stab forward with a single claw. Misty was unharmed of course, easily shifting to mist form to avoid the strike and reforming as soon as the razor sharp talons had been withdrawn. Undaunted, Brit fielded a few of Misty's retaliatory strikes and continued talking.

"I never really intended to let you rot away inside that jar in the snow. It was only a temporary situation." Brit's blocks and deft weaving past Misty's attacks sped up, now defending herself from all the incoming attacks before they could hit her in the face or body. An inkling of doubt crept into Misty. She was unsettled by the way that Brit was blocking only the attacks that would interrupt her talking, as if the fact that these strikes were designed to incapacitate and injure was of no real concern to her.

"It's too late to pretend you're sorry for it now." Misty stated, frowning at her inability to get a successfully land punch.

Brit gave a short laugh.

"No no no, you misunderstand. I've never been sorry for a thing in my life. What I meant was I had intended to come back and finish you off myself. You see, it took a while but I've developed some theories on how I might be able to kill a living cloud."

Brit's metal-laced claw flashed out, grabbing Misty by the throat. Brit had just proved herself to be at least as fast as Misty was when Misty was on the top of her game. Right now though, Misty's reflexes were slowed by having just launched some hundred-odd martial arts attacks at her opponent. Misty still had her last defense open to her though, and instinctively started dissolving into her gaseous form.

Grinning, Brit _tsk-tsk_'ed and sent a pulse of electricity coursing into Misty's half-corporeal body.

The pain of the shock interrupted Misty's transformation, re-solidifying her within Brit's baleful clutches. The electricity didn't stop however, but continued to flow through Misty's humanoid form and ground itself into the earth. If anything, the current and the pain that accompanied it only seemed to increase, dropping Misty to her knees.

A soft glow emanated from a gem positioned carefully against Brit's chest, and as Misty watched a single flaw in the Gem's surface lengthened and split into a shape like a fork of lightning. Through it all that eternal grin was still stretched across Brit's face, laughing at Misty's agony, eager to watch her expire.

A thunderclap from the sky above them ended Misty's torture. Blinking her eyes to clear her double vision, Misty was surprised to find Brit gone; instead, she had been replaced with a smoking crater in the soil at least five yards across.

"Misty!" came a womanly voice from above.

Shaking off the last of her daze, Misty turned and saw Jenny just as the robot heroine touched down next to her and helped Misty to her feet.

"Jenny? Is that you?" Misty asked, unsure.

Surely Brit hadn't hit her **that** hard. But still, she didn't quite recognize her best friend. Jenny was noticeably taller now, and her hips, chest and other curves had filled out to much more adult contours. By contrast, Jenny's arms and legs looked trimmed down, especially notable that her big clunky boots were replaced with more form-fitting knee-boots with a raised heel.

Misty quickly started to notice subtler differences as well; Jenny's shade of baby-blue hair and clothing was slightly darker now, and her twin pigtails were folded back behind her to give the appearance of a single mass of "hair" extending to her mid-back. More then the size difference and minor cosmetic changes, Misty noticed one thing above all; this robot veritably _hummed _with power. Every metal surface gleamed, every movement of her limbs held the precision of a surgeon and the grace of a dancer. And perhaps only noticeable to Misty's finely honed senses, but the air around her seemed to shimmer from the energy barely contained somewhere in the robot's inner core.

Misty's eyes squinted, now doubting if this really was her high school friend or not. Questioning, she asked again "XJ-9?"

"Actually, it's XJ-10 now." Jenny smiled down at Misty. "But my friends can call me 'Jen' for short."

Misty gave her a wry grin, recognizing her friend's sense of humor, and Jenny chuckled.

"What? 'Jenny' just sounded a little to juvenile for me now."

Sharing Jen's laugh, Misty responded "Whatever. I love the new look. Just so long as it's still my friend on the inside, then it's all good with me" and offered Jenny a quick hug of solidarity.

Jen hugged back, assuring Misty "I'll always be the same girl on the inside. And we'll always be friends. Partners in crime, remember?"

"Right!" Misty grinned, holding up a fist and striking a battle pose. "Let's show this bitch what the dynamic duo can really do!"

"Oh yes, please do" came a curt retort from Brit, hovering with her wings a short distance away and looking none too pleased with this development.

Whatever XJ10 had blasted her with had done no permanent damage, and now the crystal was burning with continuous use, light pouring from Brit's eyes and mouth as she spoke. The shimmer of energy that Jen held was dwarfed by the corona of malevolent power that surrounded Brittany Crust. The ground under her blistered and pooled into puddles of black glass, the air around her rippled in distorted waves, the sky itself seemed to darken overhead.

Fearless, the pair of Misty and Jen plunged forward, determined to repay Brit for every bit of pain she had inflicted on them and their loved ones.

XJ10 performed an expert tackle, penetrating a minor force field Brit had erected without losing any momentum and colliding with the insane teenager herself. Two long trenches appeared in the soil where Brit's feet sought purchase, the force of Jen's attack pushing them both a good thirty yards before coming to a stop.

Brit fought and clawed at Jen's grip around her middle, and for the first time Brit's claws encountered significant resistance, finding that she was unable to slice her opponent's arms off as she had intended to do. Clearly, Brit had underestimated the raw power of Jenny's upgraded body.

Well, a more basic approach then. Elbowing Jen in the face gave Brit a little room to maneuver, and a follow up punch with both hands folded together finally shook Brit free of Jen's grip.

Her hands pointed out towards Jen and her palms burned with an overabundance of energy. Brit glowered and said "New body or not, I still have many new sources of pain for you to enjoy Jennifer. Shall we begin with transmuting your internal coolant supply into hydrochloric acid?"

Brit smirked and willed it to be so.

Just as quickly, Brit was interrupted by an expertly performed pointed-toe kick to the side of her neck.

"Grarhk!" Brit snarled, clutching her neck in momentary pain. A few feet from Jenny a patch of lawn suddenly dissolved into a puddle of volatile acids, making Jenny glad she hadn't been on the receiving end of that particular attack.

Misty was a blur of motion, dancing an acrobatic circle around Brit, peppering her with minor cuts and nerve strikes that almost penetrated Vexus' armor. Damn, the little ninja girl's attacks weren't terribly harmful, but they were distracting. And she seemed to be able to sense the spots where Vexus' metallic skin was thinnest, a talent that could prove very annoying in the future. Brit shielded herself as best she could from the alien's punches, deciding that she would need to focus on getting rid of—

"Jen, now!" cried Misty, catching Brit by surprise by suddenly dropping to the ground.

A brief moment passed. Brit had just enough time to look back at XJ10 and observe the artillery-like cannon she had transformed into before the first shot was fired. An instinctive summoning of the crystal's defensive properties was all that saved Brit from being blown to smithereens, but the impact of such high ordinance still sent the deranged teen sailing through the air and crashing through the front wall of Jenny's house. The dust swirled through the air and gradually started to settle on Brit's prone form.

_**Get up! There's still work to do!**_

Shaking her head, Brit pulled herself out of a momentary blackout and back into consciousness. Rather then finding the Robot and Ninja waiting to continue the fight, standing before her was her cousin Tiff. Brit scuttled about in the debris her landing had created, pulling herself to her feet in a defensive posture.

"Brit, settle down! Jus' stop, ok?" Tiff was adamant, but Brit could still smell her fear lurking just below the surface. A small quiver in her voice was what gave it away. Doubtless Tiff had been sent in to dissuade her from continuing the fight, she was the "good cop" to Jenny's "bad cop".

A familiar face amidst a world of hostility that they hoped might convince Brit to spare them.

"Why should I stop?" Brit demanded, "I'm doing exactly what I've always wanted to do. I'm **destroying** Jenny. If only you could understand how **good** it is. I feel like I could eat lighting and crap thunder."

Tiff held out her hands in a pleading gesture, frowning with pity. "But you ain't gonna win Brit! I've seen Jenny's new body in action, it's like a walkin' war machine!"

Brit stepped closer, giving her cousin an appraising look. Sweat beaded on Tiff's brow, her face was slightly flush. Clearly anxious, Tiff stuck her hands in her pockets, an old nervous tick that Brit recognized.

She was trying to hide it, but… Tiff was lying. Brit was far too good at telling lies to not be able to recognize when she was being fed one herself. Brit smirked, raising one eyebrow with contemptuous humor.

"Oh really? If you're so confident, then why are you so afraid? You're practically shaking in your boots. Haha! How the mighty have fallen. If only the nerds you bully at school could see you now."

"I'ma scared fr' you, Brit!" Tiff blurted, "Even after everythin' else, yur still mah cousin! Jus' give up, take yur medicine and go ta jail."

Tiff was desperate in her tone, _needing_ to make Brit understand. If she could get through all the madness, the blood lust and hunger for power, and give her cousin one message it was this.

"Jus' stop now, before this gets outta hand. I'm tellin' ya: If you threaten her baby … they'll **kill** ya Brit."

Brit's features softened.

She frowned, and hesitated, her face betraying a confused jumble of emotions.

Tiff saw her cousin's defensive posture relax slightly into a more neutral pose, though she remained cautious. Taking a slow step forward, Tiff extended her right hand towards Brit in a friendly gesture, her left still in the back pocket of her shorts.

"Jus take mah hand, and we can go tell 'em that yur gonna surrender." Tiff offered, trying to make her voice sound reassuring to her troubled cousin. Inside her pocket Tiff's left hand nervously clutched the hilt of the killswitch device, every muscle in her arm and shoulder tensed.

Just a few steps closer now.

"And then… then everything will be like before, right?" said Brit meekly, her eyes growing moist and her lower lip trembling.

Tiff nodded, keeping her voice as calm and soothing as possible. She needed to comfort Brit, keep her passive until the killswitch subdued her. The fingers on Tiff's left hand twitched around it, readying to make her move.

Offering a warm smile, Tiff softly cooed "Yeh', tha's right. Jus' like before. That's essactly _right_."

"**WRONG!**" snarled Brit, lunging forward and seizing Tiff by the neck. In an instant everything about Brit had changed from passive to monstrous.

"Fool me once…" Brit singsonged as she pivoted, and flung Tiff bodily through the Wakemans' living room window.

The force of the throw was such that crashing through one plate of glass did little to diminish Tiff Crust's velocity. To the contrary, after smashing the first window Tiff sailed through the air and was lucky enough to careen through the kitchen window of the adjacent Carbunkle home, landing on the kitchen floor in a mess of broken glass and wood and blood.

Dazed from the impact and the rapid drop in blood pressure, Tiff nevertheless scrambled about, searching for the killswitch device. She _had_ to find it, it had been entrusted to her by Jenny, and their plan had failed.

Glass sliced Tiff's fingers as she crawled over the kitchen floor, searching. She had to find it!

Brit had been right, Tiff had been lying about XJ-10. Really, she had no idea how strong Jenny's new body might be, but the way Jenny's mother had talked it sounded like the fight would be a close one. The killswitch was their ace in the hole, in case XJ-10 couldn't out-fight Brit.

If only Tiff could find it!

"Gotta find it gotta find it gotta find it…" Tiff muttered, blindly groping handfuls of broken glass in her search. It was only when the ringing in her ears started to die down that she realized she wasn't alone. It was also just then that Tiff realized why she was making such little progress; the painful landing had her seeing spots, and it was impossible for her to locate the killswitch, or even have any idea where she was right now.

A hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, made Tiff's heart jump into her throat. Was Brit here to finish her off?

"Tiff!" spoke Brad, concerned.

Tiff exhaled, immensely relieved to hear her boyfriend's voice again. Brad picked Tiff up off the ground and rushed her to the living room, laying her gently on a couch and began tending to her wounds.

"Looks like you took a bad head wound, probably a concussion" stated Brad, looking her over. Checking her eyes, he saw the pupils randomly contracting and dilating, confirming his suspicions.

"Thank God I took all those years of scouting." Brad muttered.

Tiff, still unable to see more then momentary flashes of his face, threw up her arms to stop him. "No time fr' that now, jus find th' killswitch!"

"You mean this thing?" queried Tuck, holding the odd dagger shaped electronic gizmo. Brad took the weapon from Tuck, and Tiff nodded vigorously.

Her speech was slurred, she struggled to explain before she lost consciousness. "Th' knife thang. Issa invent'n. Jenny's dad. Gotta… gotta stab Br't. It'll kill 'er. Take 'er powahrs. Kill'er Brad, yah gotta. Gotta stop… bef'r… be'fore she… pohwerzzz… ehhnnn…"

Tiff lost the last of her strength and passed out.

Brad waited by her side, checking to make sure Tiff's breathing was steady and her pulse regular before standing up, killswitch in hand.

"Tuck, take care of Tiff here. I've got to go finish something."

* * *

Outside on the lawn, Misty and Jen waited.

Using enhanced optical sensors, Jen watched the proceedings between Tiff and Brit from a distance, hoping that her plan would succeed and Brit could be taken down without further violence. If not, then the only thing left would be to hit Brit as hard and as fast as possible, and pray that she had enough raw power to overcome her. It was a kind twist of fate that Jen now had Misty fighting by her side, and made her feel slightly more secure.

In the meantime, the two made small talk.

"So how was the wedding?" asked Jen, not taking her eyes off the distant Crust cousins.

"I never made it actually" responded Misty, stretching and practicing some rhythmic breathing. "Queen nutjob over there ambushed me just as I was about to leave Earth."

Jen smiled at Misty's casual insulting of Brit. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Misty smiling as well, and was glad that they were at least raising each other's spirits.

"Too bad. You know, it turns out I'm actually related to the groom? Siblings, sort of like a separated-at-birth kinda thing."

"No way." Misty intoned pleasantly, and asked "So does that mean you get a royal title too?"

Jen shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe. I guess I might end up a Cluster princess after all."

The two friends laughed a little, careful not to lose their focus but grateful to relieve what tension they could.

Still watching their mutual enemy, Jen spoke "Misty, I really want to thank you for helping me out with this. You're a true friend."

"Not at all," Misty returned, "I owe this skank some serious payback. Or have you forgotten the tar and feather incident at school? I always said the Crust cunts had this coming."

Giggling a little at Misty's casual use of profanity, Jen insisted "Well then, I at least owe you a coke", which made Misty wince.

In a pained tone, Misty said "_Pleeease_ don't mention liquids right now."

"Oh damn, Tiff is down!" Jenny interrupted, having just watched Brit seize her cousin and hurl her through two windows. Alerting her ally, Jen warned "We've got incoming!"

Brit came at them like a living fireball, rocketing from the demolished front of Jenny's house and barreling through the air straight at the two teen heroes. Alighting on the ground a dozen yards from them caused a circle of grass ten feet wide to wilt and burn where Brit landed.

"That's the second time you've tried to strike at me through my emotions today. I must say I _am_ impressed. I never would have thought you could be so underhanded Jenny. _Bravo_. You've truly sunken to my level."

"I'm nothing like you Brit" spat Jen with an undisguised tone of disgust, "I've just learned from our past encounters, and my mistakes…" gesturing to her taller, adult body she added "I've grown up."

Then, cocking her head to one side and gesturing at the remains of Vexus' dead body adorning Brit's form, she said "While you… you're still clinging to the past."

Frowning intensely, Brit glared venomously at XJ-10. "Enough pleasantries. It's time for you to die."

The corona of energy surrounding Brit flared in intensity, sending a deadly wave of destructive force speeding towards Jen. Only the superhuman celerity of the XJ-10 model gave her a chance at avoiding it, and even then it was a close call.

By tucking her legs against her body as she dived to the side, Jen just barely managed to keep her lower half from being disintegrated. Hitting the ground she rolled once then sprang back to her feet, already unfurling two rows of rocket-propelled grenades from within each shoulder. The advanced targeting computer in XJ-10's body gave her a target lock as soon as she had thought about it, and a dozen of the grenades streaked off through the air to meet their enemy.

With a contemptuous snort Brit's eyes flashed with light and the grenades detonated in midair, releasing bursts of festive streamers and confetti instead of the explosives that Jen had intended.

A second round followed, which Brit defused just as easily, but Jen had noticed something. With each use of her powers, each editing of reality, the Pip crystal flashed as its energies were released and the cracks and flaws in it grew.

Jen cycled through her arsenal, unleashing everything in rapid succession. And every attack was knocked aside just as simply as the first; her laser cannon was converted into a harmless laser pointer, her heat ray morphed into a hair dryer and her cold ray into a snow cone dispenser. Jen's ultrasonic weapon had its frequency changed to an annoying cellular ring-tone. Rubber bullets were simply ignored, bouncing harmlessly off Brit's armor.

It was annoying to be so easily rebuffed, but Jen watched, and surely enough each time Brit's crystal became a little less stable.

Sick of being on the defensive, Brit decided to change her approach. XJ-9, or now XJ-10 she supposed, was a living armory who was at her best when she had some distance from her opponent. Brit needed to change that.

Focusing the energies of the crystal into her own speed, strength and invulnerability, Brit crouched and prepared to dash towards her opponent. That would take away Jen's ability to use much of her weaponry, and put Brit into _her_ element: viscous, dirty, ruthless close combat.

Then, unexpectedly, Brit thought better of it.

An uninvited thought entered her head, reminding her that she needed to account for the fast and nimble Misty, who had caused problems for her before. Brit didn't bother to wonder where this alien intrusion into her mind had come from.

The task was easy enough for Brit, as simple as deflecting Jenny's attacks had been. She licked her lips, and purred a single word.

"_Burn_."

Instantly an immense wall of sickly green flame erupted from the ground, encircling XJ-10 and isolating her from her ally. Plunging headlong through the flames she had created, Brit crashed into Jen with enough force to make the Robotic Response Unit stagger back several steps.

"That's much better, don't you think?" Brit grinned, smacking a few more punches into either side of Jen's new face. An uppercut to Jen's chin sent her reeling until she was almost standing in the unnatural fire. Dozens of suitable ways to finish her off occurred to Brit in the span of a second. Picking one she liked, Brit reached out to grab Jen by the collar and end this contest of strength.

"If you thought this was going to be easy, you've got another thing coming" stated Jen coldly, grabbing Brit by her wrists.

Pulling her forward into a trip, Brit tumbled into the ground and got a face full of dirt, followed by Jen landing roughly on top of her elbow first. Jenny's opponent squeaked in pain and surprise, but not submission.

A quick buzz of her wings shook Jen loose, and a sweep kick knocked Jen onto her side. Another flash of Brit's crystal created a pair of burly animated rock-hewn arms out of the substance of the ground to restrain XJ-10.

Brit stood over her, gloating.

"You may be more powerful then you were before, but it's clear you don't have much idea on how to use it. Me, on the other hand? I'm a _very_ creative young woman. You'll be be—ek. Ehhckkk. (_Kaff kaff_) Hhhrrkk!"

Momentary confusion washed over Brit, causing the wall of flames to die out and allowing Jen a chance to struggle free of her bonds. While Jen was dispatching the arms protruding from the ground, Brit quickly realized what had stolen her air. Misty was here, attempting to cut off her oxygen by filling Brit's lungs with… _herself_.

Clever.

Instinct drove Brit to clutch at her throat, her face starting to turn purple from oxygen deprivation. But Brit wasn't finished yet. Summoning the power of the crystal once more, Brit focused on a very specific form of pain and forced herself to exhale. The Pip crystal's fragmentation increased with a faint sound like cracking ice and a frosty cloud of gas poured out of Brit's mouth.

As she had predicted, the cloud Brit expelled quickly collected and solidified in front of her. Misty appeared before her, curled into a fetal position and shivering badly. Gone was the defiance from Misty's features. Her lovely lavender skin was turned a light shade of blue with frostbite, and much of her body was coated in a fine sheen of frozen water.

A moment was spared to observe the way small particles of Misty's body were slowly sublimating back into vapor as she desperately attempted to return to her mist form, and then Brit struck.

Her kick blasted right through Misty's vulnerable form, sending up a cloud of blue and lavender snow that gently drifted through the air, to eventually settle around a frozen pair of haphazardly dismembered arms and legs.

"Heh. Too bad that worked, I had two or three other ideas I wanted to test out as well." Brit smirked, turning back to deal with Jen. Seeing the crumbled remains of the arms that Brit had created, she looked around and asked aloud, "Now where have you gotten to?"

XJ-10 plummeted from the sky, hitting Brit like a living meteorite.

Jen had hoped to catch Brit by surprise and it had mostly worked. Vexus' armor did what it could to protect her, but only a last minute, reflexive use of the Pip crystal allowed Brit to survive at all.

As it was, she was still thrown by the force of the impact in a large arc, through the row of bushes at the edge of the Wakeman property and onto street pavement. Brit came to a stop within a trench dug by her impact, severely shaken. A few pieces of armor had come loose, exposing her left thigh, her right ear.

Before she could even stand up again XJ-10 was attacking, smashing her into the ground with a hammer so large it seemed comical. She might have even laughed if not for the punishment she was taking. The blows rained down again and again, and once more Brit blacked out.

_**Keep fighting. There are no stops on the road to GLORY!**_

Jen wanted to scream her rage and frustration with each fall of the hammer, but words failed her.

Anything she might have come up with would've just been used as more fuel for Brit to taunt her with anyway. Instead she focused on doing as much damage as possible before Brit recovered.

Which was sooner then expected, as Jen's "atomic hammer" (as Nora had dubbed it) detached itself from Jen's arm and fell to the ground with a mental shrug from Brit. Pulling herself from the crater slowed Brit down, but didn't stop her.

Brittany Crust slammed into Jen, a shoulder check to Jen's middle taking them both to the ground.

Brit crouched on Jen's hips, pinning the larger woman's arms to the ground with her own. At this range Jen had no means of dodging, of avoiding any Pip crystal reality edits that Brit directed at her.

"_Stay still_" hissed Brit, and with a surge of light from Brit's chest Jen felt her motor seize up and stall.

The color drained from Jen's face, the servos in her chest began to convulse. All the strength drained from her limbs, her weapons systems going off line. At this range Jen could see just how close the Pip crystal was to rupturing. Every use of its energies further destabilized its crystalline matrix, breaking it apart, and eventually resulting in a violent explosion.

Brit didn't seem to realize it either.

But that was only useful if Brit kept relying on it, and now she didn't need to. XJ-10 was at Brit's mercy, suffering the robotic equivalent of a heart attack.

Jen ceased her struggles, her head and limbs becoming limp. Brit grinned, knowing she had won.

"Finally. Finally I can take my revenge. Slowly, with such precision and minute attention to detail the likes of which you've never seen."

And that's all Jen _could_ do, was watch. Her internal sensors told her that her self-repair circuits were at work busily attempting to re-spark her engine, but the eager look on Brit's face told her that she wouldn't last that long. With the power to edit reality at her whim, Brit doubtless was merely trying to decide which innovative torture to use first.

But at least then the next attack would finish them both off.

The Pip crystal would crumble and detonate, and Jenny's newborn XJ-1 would survive.

Sheldon, Nora, the rest of them would survive.

Jen only wished she had the energy to close her eyes, so she wouldn't have to look at Brit's satisfied face.

A strange _whirrrr_ sound drifted in on the breeze. Something small flashed reflected sunlight and struck Brit in the side of her head, then embedded itself in the ground next to Jen.

A ninja throwing star?

Brit's expression was priceless. Shock, anger, fear… Brit tentatively reached a hand up to touch her exposed ear, and shrieked when three quarters of it dropped to the ground, sliced cleanly off.

"EEAAHHH!!" Brit screamed, clutching the bloody stump that had been her right ear.

Standing, Brit whirled and quickly spotted Misty lying on her side on the blasted lawn. Misty looked like death warmed over, still mostly frozen and having yet to reform two thirds of her body. But she had an eye to aim with and an arm to throw with, and her friend needed her.

Brit stalked over to where Misty was laying, murder occupying her thoughts.

"So, freezing isn't lethal to you, hmmm?" Brit taunted, though there was no trace of the former humor in her voice.

"Then we'll just have to go down the list. How about an acid bath? Or an industrial compressor? Something's **got** to work, and it'll sure be **fun** finding out what."

No, not like this. Brit was supposed to use the last of the crystal's energies on her.

Not Misty.

Not her friend.

Jen didn't want to watch, but couldn't look away. Her engine was restarting, and she would have her strength back soon, but not soon enough to prevent this.

Brit closed in on her prey, stooped down to grasp Misty in her claws. Why wasn't she using the Pip crystal? Had she figured it out? Perhaps she could sense the remaining energy within the crystal somehow.

It seemed believable, now.

Turning Misty's head to one side Brit leaned in close, like she was going to kiss her. Jenny was confused, unable to see exactly what was happening. Then, Misty's cry of pain and a quick glimpse of Misty's ear between Brit's fangs told her the story, and made her sick. Constantly checking the time left until she was functional again, Jen almost didn't notice when someone new stepped into her field of vision.

Stealthily his feet glided over the remains of the lawn, his movements making only the barest of sounds. The dagger like killswitch was held tightly in his right hand, still wet with Tiff's blood.

Brad knew he would only get one shot at this.

One snowball's chance in hell.

Brit was preoccupied with Misty, engrossed in the administration of horrendous amounts of pain. Misty's cries of anguish drowned out the sounds of his approach. Would his blade make her feel even a fraction of the suffering she was responsible for?

Brad approached as close as he dared, and crouched low.

His legs tensed, sprung like coils of steel, launching him off the ground and towards his foe, the killswitch splitting the air in front of him and drawing inevitably closer to its target.

Brit caught Brad's fist in her claw, the blade stopping inches from her face.

She had seen him.

Or heard him, or _sensed_ him somehow.

She had feigned ignorance and allowed him to approach, then at the last second snapped around and grabbed him, one claw on his throat and the other encircling his fist that in turn held his weapon.

"Hello, Bradley." Brit said in pleasant English tones, her smile displaying Misty's blood staining her teeth and running down her chin. Brad didn't get a chance to respond, he only screamed as his right hand was brutally crushed around the killswitch he held, destroying the device and grinding its jagged fragments into the flesh of Brad's palm.

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, was **that** your plan B?" said Brit, feigning regret over the destruction of Mog's killswitch. She didn't even seem to notice the fact that she'd broken half the bones in Brad's hand.

With a twist of her arm, she added the bones in Brad's wrist to that list as well.

"Pathetic fool!" Brit hissed, speaking over the sounds of Brad's pain.

"Insignificant speck!" she screamed now, right in Brad's face. "I am unbridled power! How can you hope to do anything? The **only** thing you've **ever** done is _**waste my time**_!"

"Exactly." Jen declared.

Brit's heartfelt desire was to carve Brad Carbunkle up like a turkey, but she saw she had other matters to attend to. Her face was a mask of the inhuman loathing she felt for Jenny. Tossing Brad onto the ground next to Misty, she turned her full attention to the newly recovered XJ-10.

The XJ-10 who was now brandishing a spinning buzz saw from each arm.

Jen glowered, gesturing threateningly with the saws. "Brit, when I get through with you—"

"No, we're not playing that game anymore." Brit declared coldly, cutting Jen off.

Brit streaked through the air, gliding on her wings and dodging the swinging blades. A kick to the exact center of the left blade shattered it, rendering it useless.

"That's the old game. Snappy-banter-Brit isn't here anymore."

With both hands Brit seized Jen's right arm at the wrist, using every bit of Cluster-born strength she had to turn it back on its owner. The saw hovered at XJ-10's neck.

"That all changed when you took my **fucking EAR!**"

Shoving hard, Brit forced the buzz saw down, tearing into Jen's neck and decapitating the robot hero.

"Jenny…" Brad whimpered, his formerly fiery spirit gone. He cradled the comatose Misty in his arms, thankful she didn't have to witness what he just had.

Heavy, fat snowflakes fell from the sky, adding to the sudden silence that had fallen over the battlefield when the buzzsaw choked and died. Thick black oil pumped from the stump of Jen's neck into a growing pool on the ground. Brit's heavy breathing escaped as clouds of vapor in the cold air, gradually quieting as her frantically beating heart gradually calmed.

The pumping fluids slowed and dried up altogether as Jenny's motor stalled from the loss of pressure and finally quit.

She had expected to feel… elation.

_Bliss_.

Where was the joy Brit had expected? There was a certain calm, true, but… under that, in the core of her being, Brit only felt the familiar anger that had been building for years.

Where was her happiness?

Didn't she **deserve** to finally be happy, after all she had sacrificed?

Picking XJ-10's lifeless head up off the ground, Brit held it before her.

"**You**… you cheated me of it yet **again!**"

The familiar feelings of hatred returned to her, fitting into place like an old, favorite piece of clothing. Brit stared into the glassy eyes of Jen's disembodied head, berating it.

"I'm the most powerful being on the planet. Every life of every man, woman and child is my plaything to dispose of as I wish. But all I can think about is you. WHY!?"

"You're a horrid, unnatural metal freak. But everything you do is right. Everyone loves you. That's why you had to be destroyed. Just look;" Brit turned the lifeless head as if to show it the devastation all around them, the gravely injured Brad and Misty, the wrecked front of the house, the corpses of Jenny's younger siblings. In all directions, the once happy suburbs of Tremorton were replaced with smoldering craters and ruined buildings.

"You see? You wrecked everything. _I_ was supposed to have their love. I was the popular one, you understand. So I _had_ to get rid of you, it only made sense.

"But now… it's all gone. There's no empire left for me to rule.

"How did you do it?

"How did you make them love you, and hate me?"

"..."

"Well?" Brit shook the head angrily.

"Say something!" she screamed.

Brit raged, gripping the head so hard that her claws pierced its metal skin. Again and again she smashed the head against the ground, giving in to the familiar, comforting rage. The only thing that ever made her feel even the slightest bit better.

"You have to tell me! **I must know**!"

XJ-10's head came down once more, and cracked against a small rock. Brit stopped shaking it, her attention grabbed by the dark crack down the center of Jen's face. With a minor exertion of strength Brit pulled the crack wider, prying apart the two halves of the head.

Inside was not the cybernetic brain Brit had expected.

Inside was the spidery metal component that Brit recognized as the remote control module taken out of the Silver Shell.

"_**Where is she!? WHERE IS XJ9?!"**_

* * *

In the relative calm and quiet of Mrs. Wakeman's damaged, jury-rigged basement lab, Jenny took stock of her situation.

The house's defenses were decimated.

The killswitch had been destroyed.

Brad, Misty, and Tiff needed hospital attention.

Sheldon was worse. The XJ-10, even more so.

"Hey… wake up sleepyhead" Jenny spoke softly, attempting to rouse her sleeping daughter. She was amazed that her new baby could sleep so soundly, undisturbed by the sounds of battle filtering in from above. She remained perfectly serene, cuddled in her mother's arms as she nursed from Jenny's breast, feeding and downloading packets of useful data.

Jenny still hadn't settled on a name for the new arrival, but she had been considering shortening "Jay-One" into "Jane" or maybe more phonetically, "June". Removing her nipple from the baby's mouth, Jenny replaced her top as 'June' yawned and blinked her eyes sleepily. Jenny looked down into her daughter's bright, curious eyes.

"Sorry to wake you up again, but mommy has to go for a little bit. There's one more little chore mommy has to take care of."

She unplugged herself from the remote control system that Mog and Nora had cobbled together, no longer needing it. Doubtless, it would take her mother quite a while to rebuild Jenny's adult form, possibly trapping Jenny in her teenage XJ-9 body for years longer then she was intended to be.

But that was ok.

Jenny didn't mind being a teenager. She'd gotten quite good at it.

The remote control had transmitted the full extent of the damage to Jenny, so she knew that the head had been smashed open and the remote control device had been found. It was reasonable to assume that Brit would deduce where she was hiding, and would seek her out here.

Her one edge still in play was that the Pip crystal had reached the limit of what it could do. And that made Brit vulnerable. She wouldn't be able to draw power from it to warp reality anymore, unless she was unaware of the crystal's unstable nature, or she was suicidal.

And as crazy as Brit now was, she hadn't displayed any suicidal tendencies yet. Homicidal, possibly genocidal, but not suicidal.

Getting up off the examination table that had also served as a recovery bed, Jenny stretched her legs to work some of the kinks out. While Brit had been fighting XJ-10, XJ-9 had been recharging and recovering from the ordeal of childbirth. She was still tired and sore and she doubted her hips would ever be **quite** the same again, but at least she could walk.

She could fight.

It was nice to have her old stomach back too, the swollen belly having been removed now that it was no longer needed. Her "pregnancy boobs" were still here, but those she could work around.

Jenny's mind returned again to her concern for her friends. They had all sacrificed so much for her, and for what? Their progress so far was a few chunks of armor and three quarters of an ear.

This struggle was between just her and Brittany Crust now. She couldn't expect anymore help from her friends and family. Jenny had also sent Mog and her mother away for the time being, sent to provide what medical attention they could for poor Tiff. Jenny now understood just how fragile her family could be, and didn't want a repeat of what happened to…

"Sheldon." Jenny said sadly.

His unconscious body had been too heavy for any of the others to move to a safer location, and now Jenny didn't have the time too. The ruins of the basement and lab would be safe enough, though, since Jenny didn't intend to let Brit get past her.

Jenny crouched down until her face was level with her fiancée, their child in her arms.

"Sheldon, I know I've asked a lot from you in the past. I need to ask you for one more favor."

Placing the mewling XJ-1 in Sheldon's remaining arm, Jenny kissed her child and tucked her in securely against Sheldon's dented chest. Jenny leaned forward to give Sheldon a peck on his lips, hoping that he could hear her in his dreams. "Take good care of her." She whispered, and stood.

Without further hesitation Jenny ascended the stairs to the ground floor, seeing the wreckage of her home and her sisters spread all about. It was getting later in the day now, and through the gaping hole in the front wall where a door should be, Jenny could see the sun was starting to set.

Waiting for her was Brit Crust, disheveled and missing one ear but still standing proudly on the lawn. Proud, perhaps, of all that she had accomplished today. Brit was not smiling or grinning as she was wont to do, nor was she madly ranting as she had last been. She stood there with a neutral frown, staring back at Jenny as intensely as she was being regarded herself.

As if to break the silence, Brit snidely started mimicking the sound of church bells, going "Bonngggg… Bonngggg…"

"What the hell is that?" asked Jenny, in no mood for Brit's deranged antics. She had lost so much today, her friends had been so gravely hurt. And all Brit had paid for it was a measly ear. Jenny couldn't wait to wipe the smirk of Brit's face.

"It's your death knell" explained Brit, falling into a loose fighting stance. "You tricked me. That's why your death held no satisfaction for me. But this time I'll be sure you're _really_ dead, even if it means I have to scoop out your electric brain and eat it piece by piece. **That** will be a truly **glorious** kill."

Jenny followed suit, raising her fists and making sure all her battle systems were at the ready. She only had to beat a roughed-up Vexus now, or wait until Brit's impatience got her to use the Pip crystal again.

"You know what the definition of insanity is Brit? Doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result."

"Oh, no no no, this **will** be different. This won't be any hollow death like last time. I'm going to start slow, carve you up and pull out each cog and circuit board one by one. I'll tease it out over days and build it to the final climax of your death."

Jenny gritted her teeth, her knuckles flexing. "Brit, I just gave birth. Compared to that, anything you're capable of inflicting on me will feel like a pleasant daydream." Calculating out the most efficient route to Brit possible, Jenny prepared herself to hold nothing back.

"Do your worst."

And with that, the battle was joined.

Jenny and Brit each sprung forward, colliding in the air and trading blows in a flurry of motion. Brit's claws slashed at Jenny's face and shoulders, leaving long welts on her cheeks and down her arms. Jenny impacted against Brit's ribs, her forward momentum knocking Brit out of the air and sending them both crashing to the ground.

Six flashing swords came stabbing down at Brit, intent on turning her into a human pincushion. Brit turned aside at the last possible moment and sprung to her feet, leaving Jenny's swords to be impaled into the soft earth. A swift kick from Brit's Cluster-enhanced legs snapped the swords in two, and Jenny abandoned the now useless weapons.

With a gesture Jenny extended her laser blaster from her forearm, and nearly managed to tag Brit with it before Brit took to the skies on her buzzing wings. Firing more shots from the ground was useless, as Brit's speed in the air was too much for XJ-9's targeting systems to handle. Firing her pigtail-jets put Jenny in the air, closing the distance between them.

Once in the air Jenny continued to pepper bursts of laser fire at Brit, occasionally managing to hit her with glancing blasts. With each hit a little puff of black smoke told of the scorching that Brit's armor was receiving.

Jenny drew closer and closer, her accuracy increasing. One good head shot would—

Brit's momentum abruptly changed, now spiraling back towards Jenny and quickly colliding with her in mid air. Raising her arms defensively, Jenny felt her laser gun wrenched from her arm and caught sight of it falling towards the ground out of the corner of her eye. Brit's claws were going to work on her again, and Jenny knew her protective skin would soon be pierced and her inner machinery exposed if she didn't do something quick.

A punch to the gut slowed Brit down, and another across her jaw told her she would need to change her approach. Without augmentation from the crystal, it seemed Jenny was still slightly stronger then Brit. Though Brit was faster, it now appeared that extremely close combat was no longer Brit's best tactic.

Brit growled, expressing her displeasure. With both hands she reached for Jenny's head, and in their struggle caught hold of one of her pigtails instead. Taking what she could get, Brit ripped at Jenny's hair, tearing the one pigtail loose and leaving the other broken, and Jenny suddenly plummeting to the ground.

A last minute catch allowed Jenny to snag a hold of one of Brit's ankles, making Brit's flight droop with the added weight and left her wings beating like mad to maintain altitude.

"Woah!" shouted Jenny as she hung on for all she was worth, Brit desperately trying to shake her loose.

"Let go of me, parasite!" Brit roared, kicking her heel on Jenny's fingers.

They were gradually sinking towards the ground, but Jenny knew that if Brit got away from her now she could circle in the skies and strike at Jenny at her leisure. Something had to be done, and Jenny no longer cared about pulling her punches.

Swapping out her free arm into a monstrously sized pneumatic clamp, Jenny seized Brit's insect-like wings by the root. Without the buzzing wings to keep them aloft, both combatants were now dropping like stones. With only seconds before they crashed on the hard ground below, Jenny exerted all the strength her weakened body could muster.

Her arms flexed… harder… the sickening sound of tearing flesh cut through the air rushing past her audio sensors. Brit's pained and horrified scream.

Snapping bone.

Impact.

Their trajectory had landed them on the front steps of Jenny's home, churning up the debris and leaving Jenny cushioned by a small pile of her dead siblings. Brit had landed on her front a short distance away, and was bawling her eyes out.

Now that they were on the ground, Jenny could see the extent of the damage she had done. Drawing on every reserve of strength Jenny had managed to tear Brit's wings off, but not as she had intended. The armor on Brit's back now had two gaping, bloody holes where the wings had formerly been attached.

Peering closely at Brit's violently heaving back, Jenny could discern torn skin and muscle tissue, and loose fragments of Brit's broken and severed shoulder blades. Did she also see snapped ribs? Vertebrae?

"How could you?" screamed Brit through the tears, her blood pouring in twin rivulets down her back. Stumbling to her feet, Brit grabbed a chunk of XJ-8 and made her way to Jenny.

"My wings! I was like an angel! A beautiful, perfect angel!"

Brit slammed the hunk of Jenny's younger sister down on her, beating her with it until the fragment of XJ-8 started to fall apart.

"How dare you defile such perfection?! You're a monster!"

"You're not making sense… _this_ doesn't make sense!" Jenny squeaked, unable to understand how Brit was even moving her arms without any shoulder blades. Jenny kicked at Brit, pushing her away and making her drop her crude weapon. Brit's interpretation of reality was just… it left Jenny at a loss for words.

The loathing that motivated this girl to attack Jenny through pain that should have left her crippled…

Part of Jenny wondered what she herself might look like as seen through Brit's eyes. Part of her was scared to find out.

Brit's sobbing subsided, and transformed.

She was quietly laughing now, holding it back but unable to keep a torrent of giggles from escaping her lips. Jenny got up as fast as she could, wary of Brit being allowed any time to come up with a new tactic. As soon as she stood, she saw the source of Brit's happiness.

From the bloody stumps that Jenny had torn out of Brit's back had grown new wings. They were still the membranous dragonfly wings of Vexus, but they were no longer merely implants, _they were a part of her_. The metal frame of the wings merged seamlessly with Brit's healed flesh. Jenny knew that if she managed to injure these wings, they would bleed as any other part of the human body would.

From under Brit's chest, Jenny spotted the familiar glow that had made this… she hesitated to call it a miracle except in a purely statistical sense… possible.

Standing up and facing her, Brit looked Jenny dead on and smiled, her laughter finally dying off. The Pip crystal in her hand vibrated and spat crackles of energy, sizzling against Brit's palm like fat in a frying pan.

Jenny took a cautious step backwards knowing what was coming. Should she stall with more insults? Try to get Brit to gloat? Vanity was still clearly one of Brit's flaws, somehow surviving Brit's descent into insanity virtually unchanged.

The Pip crystal would detonate any moment now, and Brit would be consumed in its subatomic fires.

Jenny extended her flight wings to give her a quick boost of momentum and readied the huge clamp she had plucked Brit's wings with. She would need to time this just right, to fling Brit and the crystal into the air to keep the explosion from demolishing the house or hurting anyone she cared about.

"Oh please, as if I'm that stupid" snorted Brit.

The crystal shook violently, building to a critical mass.

"But I want you to feel **really dumb** about what happens next."

Without even looking, Brit casually tossed the crystal across the foyer and towards the stairs leading to the basement. Jenny lunged, firing what was left of her flight systems and shifting all her power into getting as much acceleration as possible.

Her _baby_ was down there.

She _needed_ to catch this.

The world around her blurred from the speeds she moved at. She needed to grab it and stuff it down Brit's smirking mouth. The crystal spun through the air, flipping end over end towards its target.

Jenny's fingertips clinked against the glasslike surface.

Jenny felt a tug on her ankle. Brit's fingers.

Her momentum lost, Jenny dropped to the ground.

The crystal fell from her grasp, tumbled through the air and fell down, down into the cellar where the remains of the lab were. Where Sheldon and the baby were. A musical series of _clinks_ sounded each step on the crystal's descent to the bottom of the staircase. It seemed to last forever, and Jenny couldn't do a thing to stop it.

A soundless flash of light overloaded Jenny's optical sensors, and the heat burned her face.

Then all of a sudden, the house was collapsing. Pushed so far the structural integrity had finally been eroded past the point of no return, and it fell in large chunks all around Jenny. The last thing she could think to do was to pitch herself forward with both arms, flinging herself down the stairs into the ruins of the basement.

Long minutes were filled with the roar of the house's death throws and Jenny had only darkness to comfort her, her eyes needing time to recalibrate themselves.

A simple pilot light in her fingertip provided Jenny with ample illumination in the cavity that had formed. A pocket of air remained trapped under the tons of rubble above. In time, Jenny could dig herself out without any difficulty.

But that was not her concern right now.

A limp arm was her first sign of them. Sheldon's forearm, his right hand, protruded from the wall of rubble.

Jenny scratched and clawed at the dirt, the broken brick and mortar and bits of science equipment. Little by little she uncovered more of the arm, and then was frustrated as fresh debris fell from above to fill in the progress she'd make. Her vision was blurry from the explosion and the tears that streamed freely from her eyes.

She made it past Sheldon's elbow, she could see his twisted bicep now, the armor plating nowhere to be seen.

Now to his shoulder, the blackened remains of the outer armor crumbling under her touch.

She almost didn't notice the cold hand on her shoulder.

"They're dead, you nitwit" insisted Brit.

Jenny ignored her, continuing to dig. The debris fell in again, pushing her progress back to Sheldon's elbow. Jenny didn't care. She dug, to the shoulder, to the chest plate that had been warped by intense heat and largely melted into an unrecognizable shape.

Brit hissed at her, "Give it up already! You have more pressing matters to attend to. You, I, and Death have an appointment to keep."

Jenny remained focused on her task, even though she couldn't see what she was doing through her tears and sobs. She could feel most of Sheldon's torso now. Annoyed with the dark _thing_ raking at her shoulder, Jenny snapped "Believe it or not Brit, you are not what I am concerned with right now."

"Don't pretend," Brit chided, "I'm going to leave you buried down here when you're dead. So it's not like anyone can see you trying to act all selfless and brave."

Jenny ignored her, digging.

Frustrated, Brit seized Jenny by the shoulders and spun her around, pinning her to the ground. "You can't just ignore me!" Brit said angrily, savaging Jenny with her claws. "You want to give up and die? Fine by me. It's about time you accepted the inevitability of your demise."

"I'm not giving up. I'll never give up." Jenny sobbed, lifting her arms and seizing Brit around the neck.

Brit returned the gesture, throttling Jenny as well. She grinned in the darkness.

"Ah, so you're driven by revenge then. How very fitting. So be it, we shall destroy each other here in this pit, consumed by our mutual hatred."

Jenny gritted her teeth. It pained her to waste words on Brit.

"It's not revenge, or hatred. You've become an abomination Brit. Can't you see yourself? You need to be destroyed, for the good of the goddamn universe."

Brit's smile faded, replaced with confusion.

"you're doing this… out of altruism?"

Revenge she understood. Brit understood the survival instinct, the concept that Jenny might be willing to kill her to preserve her own life or that of her offspring. If that had been how this ended, Brit vanquished by a stronger opponent, then that was a suitable ending for her.

But this… this couldn't be.

"You… your family is dead! Your **baby** is **dead**! **YOU'LL BE DEAD**!" Brit raged, trying to communicate the concept to Jenny.

There was no hope.

No point or meaning to it.

Jenny's life would end tragically and the universe _would not care_. The galaxies would keep spinning without stopping to shed a tear. Jenny's last moment would be an experience of the cosmic rejection that had become Brit's entire life. She had to understand that.

Before Brit killed her, she had to make **sure** Jenny understood that was why she was dying. That the universe was a cold one and none of the heroic deeds that Jenny had filled her life with had changed that fact in the slightest.

Even as Brit's claws burrowed into Jenny's neck, the tears she shed were for her loved ones, not herself. Though her vocal instruments were damaged by the intruding claws, Jenny gasped. "That doesn't mean I'm going to quit!"

Brit gaped. Her eyes bugged out, her breath stolen away.

This was Jenny at her core, stripped bare of any possible pretense, and reason to lie or put on a show for the benefit of witnesses. Brit was looking at Jenny's soul laid out before her. And clearly, Jenny the Teenage Robot had a soul. It was noble and good and caring and everything that Brit lacked. Everything that Brit loathed.

Even when faced with certain annihilation, Jenny's spirit did not waver from its nature, it remained true to the highest ideals of humanity.

Jenny was a better human being then Brit could ever be, no matter how long she might live.

And what was worse, infinitely worse… that meant that Brit had been _wrong_.

Wrong all along.

If Brit had a soul it was long dead now, and it was her own fault. She had taken the pain and rejection in her life and fostered it, done everything she could to enhance the pain, because it could be her weapon against that which she envied. Jenny was right, and she was _**wrong**_. That's why happiness escaped her. Jenny was not to blame, Brit was. She had killed her own chance at a happy ending a long time ago.

Wrong _wrong_ _**wrong**_.

It felt like acid in her brain.

Her Ego was consumed by her Id which was burned on the pyre of her idealized Self.

Like a frayed piece of cloth, the last vestiges of the person called Brittany Crust came unraveled and dissolved in the churning waters of her insanity.

This left only the burning pit of hatred that had survived the death of the alien tyrant Vexus. Released of Brit's control, that undying fragment of Vexus snapped all bonds of reason and restraint and roamed free.

Brit's strength surged, her claw tearing at Jenny's shoulders and shaking the badly damaged robot. The two of them thrashed against each other, Brit gibbering and foaming at the mouth. Brit was dead, it was only the ghost of Vexus that kept the body alive now. It was very clear to Jenny when she looked in Brit's bloodshot eyes that this was no longer a person, it was only a mad dog that needed to be put down.

Sadly, Jenny was not in a position to do anything about it. Her strength had already waned, while Brit's body was still strong and vital. Unable to keep Brit back, her enemy came down on Jenny and clamped her teeth on Jenny's neck.

This is how they would find her someday, her throat ripped out by a rabid beast.

Though she could not see past the frenzied creature bearing down on top of her, Jenny detected a faint clatter coming from off to the side of the chamber they occupied. Fighting to turn her head, Jenny pushed past Brit and what she saw made her gasp.

Her newborn daughter was there, squirming out into the open from within a tiny pocket of shelter created by Sheldon's chest plate.

How was this possible? Had "June" been shielded by Sheldon's carapace when the crystal detonated? Perhaps if he had rolled aside to shield her at just the right moment…

Jenny's heart leaped. It didn't matter, she didn't care. Her baby was unharmed, aside from a few minor scorch marks. Unharmed, and rapidly crawling her way over to Jenny and Brit.

"N-no, stay back baby! It's not safe for you over here." Jenny commanded.

Not safe was an understatement, considering the feral state that Brit had descended into. She would have sooner placed her baby in the den of a family of wolverines. But her baby continued on, heedless of the danger of her mother's warnings. In no time at all June was next to her, trying to crawl up onto Jenny's chest if it wasn't for Brit being in her way.

Brit was howling now, rocking her weight on top of Jenny while biting and clawing continuously.

Annoyed, June yawned her mouth open as wide as she could manage and bit Brit on the arm with her single crooked tooth.

Bit's thrashing ceased, replaced with a sharp yelp of pain. Freed from Brit's attack, Jenny quickly snatched her daughter away (before Brit forcibly shook her loose) and held her offspring close to her chest.

In front of them Brit underwent a startling range of motions; first she convulsed in a violent seizure, flailing her arms about wildly. This died down into a heavy shaking, like she was in shock or suffering from hypothermia, forcing Brit to fall to the ground.

Jenny looked on, amazed.

Brit retched, she choked and spasmodically buzzed her newly re-grown wings. Brit's torso heaved, and for a moment Jenny feared Brit's heart might burst right out of her chest. Finally, Brit rolled into a fetal position, her long thin limbs drawing in towards her body like an old, dried up insect carcass.

"Good girl… good girl…" Jenny gasped, as much to steady her own nerves as to calm her child. June waved her arms, trying to reach out for her mother's bosom, and started crying when she failed to be fed.

Jenny rocked back and forth, soothing her baby. "Shhh… shhh… mommy's got you now" she cooed, keeping her eyes locked on Brit's immobile form, watching for any sign of movement, even breathing.

"Mommy's got you. Everything is going to be alright."


	24. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

Sheldon awoke to the spicy smell of something cooking.

No, baking.

Something sweet… cinnamon? Cinnamon rolls? He loved cinnamon rolls.

He was in bed… his bed. Sheldon sat up, throwing off the sheets and touched his face with his hand. His human hand. He was a human again… wait, the fight with Brit. Oh no.

Was he… dead?

_Come downstairs_

The words were not spoken, or announced through any intercom. They just intruded into his thoughts. There was no particular voice associated with the command to come downstairs; it was simply knowledge that had been injected into his mind. Come to think of it, Sheldon couldn't actually _hear_ anything. Nor could he feel the mattress under him or his own hand on his face. Was he deaf? And numb? Lacking any better alternative, Sheldon left the bedroom and walked down the hallway towards the staircase.

The house was familiar, but not. The room he left he had recognized as his bedroom, but now that he thought about it there had been things out of place. A piece of memorabilia here, an action figure there, were missing or in the wrong spot. Now, in the hallway, Sheldon wasn't sure where he was anymore.

The building looked superficially like his own home, but had some design elements of Jenny's house melded in with them. On top of that, everything looked unrealistically simplistic, as though he were living in a cartoon.

Passing by an exterior window, Sheldon peeked outside and saw only a pale white light. There was no terrain, no backyard or even fluffy white clouds with angels sitting on them, strumming their harps. Just a blank white void. Perturbed, Sheldon moved on down the stairs.

Stopping before he reached the bottom, Sheldon wondered if he shouldn't be a little more cautious. His life was a fairly weird one after all. Or had been, if being dead was the case here. If this wasn't the afterlife though, then it could be just about anything else, and possibly hostile.

_It's okay, keep going._

The words entered his mind again, and Sheldon called out "Who are you?"

_This is Jenny silly. XJ9. waves hello_

"Jenny? Where am I?" Sheldon asked, confused.

_You're in my mother's lab (well, it's Mog's lab really, but mom has a tendency to take things over wherever she goes). Or, at least, your brain is. You're not much to look at right now. Not much more then a motherboard and a block of hard drives. But I really missed you, so mom let me hook you up to Mog's computer and chat with you using the keyboard for a little bit. Most of your accessory systems are still offline though, but I accessed one of your smell-memory-files that was flagged "important" to get you to wake up. _

Sheldon sat down on the stairs, taking it all in. Jenny typed _I miss you sweetie_ and he felt a wave of comfort sweep through him.

"Ok, so this is… a memory? Like before?"

_Most of your memories are offline right now. Mom wants to give them a virus sweep first. I made this little dream-house for you using an old CAD program that Mog had. _

"Oh, that explains some things." Sheldon nodded, his mind abuzz with speculation. Perhaps he should ask Jenny to draft him a spa while she was at it.

_I can do that, but you wouldn't be able to enjoy it until we turn your nerves back on._

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Sheldon asked out loud.

_It shows up on my screen silly. Think clean thoughts ;-)_

Oh great, why not just tell him **not** to think of a pink elephant while she was at it. But as tempting as it might be to sift through his favorite fantasies about Jenny, at the moment Sheldon was more concerned with his physical situation. Living in Jenny's electronic dollhouse might be a fun novelty for a little while, but Sheldon had a close enough brush with becoming a vegetable in the past already. He did not relish the idea of remaining an electronic brain-in-a-jar hooked up to somebody's PC.

_Oh, don't worry about that. My parents have been really busy working on you. The new "you", I mean. Here, go to the window. I've snapped a few digital pictures._

Sheldon climbed back up the stairs as he was told, approaching the blank white window. A few seconds later the window fuzzed-out, and was replaced with a still image of Nora Wakeman and Phineas Mog bent over a lab bench, hard at work on something.

The image blurred again, and became a clearer shot of what they were working on; Sheldon saw… himself. Only, it wasn't himself. It looked like the Wakemans were building him a new robot body modeled after his original human one. He was composed of the same gray metal, and a few other small features of the Silver Shell design were still visible as well. Sheldon hoped that meant that Nora had actually copied part of his Silver Shell designs. It was a huge compliment for such a genius to accept one of his own innovations as comparable to her own.

Other then that though, the robot looked just like him, with a couple of small improvements. His teeth were straightened for one, and his posture had been as well. Sheldon also suspected that Nora might have given him a bit of a nose job too.

_She wanted to give you a little bow tie on the front of your neck too, but I've made sure she didn't change too much. I want you just the way I remember you __J_

"Thanks," Sheldon said aloud, though he supposed he didn't have to really. Sheldon was certainly impressed. Judging by the pictures, Nora must have been hard at work to get so much done in the last… wait, how long had it been since Jenny's labor?

_A little over three months._

"Three months?!" Sheldon blurted. "Well… what happened? With Brit, and Brad, and… The baby, oh my God!"

_Brit's taken care of, thanks in no small part to you. The rest of our friends are doing ok, for the most part. My house was destroyed, and the Carbunkle's house was condemned due to "structural instabilities", but the government is paying to have them rebuilt. _

_In the meantime, we've all been staying at Mog's place. By that I mean me, you (your brain, anyway), mom, Mog, and Tuck, at least at first. It's been a little cramped living here; we even had to turn the garage workshop into a nursery. _

_My mom is doing fine. She seems to have gotten together with Phineas Mog, which makes sense, but is still really creepy. I just can't think of my mom as being someone who has an interest in guys. They both spend a lot of time in the nursery whenever they're not working on your new body. I think they like taking care of the baby together, it's probably important to their research or something. _

_I've gone back to school, which is a whole other story. I worked out a deal with vice principal Radzinski to make up time for all the classes I missed. Basically, I'm taking a placement credit as a teacher's aid at an elementary school. It's neat, since I never went to elementary school. And actually, when I graduate, I've been thinking that I might like to look more into teaching as a career. _

_But it is a lot of extra work. Between that and midnight feedings, I don't always get as much recharge time as I would like._

_Brad, Tiff and Misty had to go stay in the hospital for a while. Brad got out first (mostly it was just a broken hand, and he heals really fast now for some reason) after only a couple of days. And a lot of that time was the doctors poking at his chest scars, trying to figure out just what is going on there. But so far it's a mystery, and Brad doesn't like hospitals so he didn't stick around to find out. _

_Tiff was in the hospital for a lot longer, she had some broken bones and a pretty bad concussion. When she got out she went back to her old house for the time being. _

_Misty is still there right now, she got hurt the worst. She's got broken ribs, internal bleeding, a punctured lung, the works. She'll be ok, but it's harder for her because the Earth doctors aren't well trained to handle an alien patient._

_Brad has technically been living with us since he got out, but he was spending most of his time at the hospital, and nowadays he sleeps over at Tiff's house a lot too. But he still comes back here to spend time with Tuck and me. Tuck was pretty traumatized during this whole… thing. _

_He's okay when Brad's around, but when he's not Tuck tends to need a lot of attention from me and mom. He's seeing some counselors about the death of his parents. Weirdly though, he's been a lot of help with the baby. I think mom has been teaching him some stuff about robotics and computer programming._

_Speaking of which… will you go downstairs already? There's someone waiting to meet you. :-D_

Sheldon jumped to his feet and wasted no time getting downstairs. In place of the living room he had been expecting, Sheldon found himself in a nursery. The walls were pink, with pink curtains on the windows and flower pots hanging from the ceiling with pink blossoms. The corners of the room were overflowing with stuffed animals and bundles of pink balloons with "congratulations!" printed on them.

In the center of it all was a baby's cradle with a mobile hanging overhead. Sheldon approached almost reverently, and peered inside.

Looking up at him were two bright, blue eyes, centered in the most perfect little face that Sheldon could imagine.

"Bahhh." The little baby stated.

Sheldon smiled and nodded.

"Yep, 'bahhh' is right." He agreed, picking up the tiny human baby in his arms.

_Awww, you two are so sweet together. :-D :-D :-D_

"What's her name?" Sheldon asked, already aware that the baby was a girl.

_June. Or Jane, or Jodie. I haven't settled completely, I wanted to get your input first. But I've been using June mostly._

"June is fine" said Sheldon, smiling from ear to ear. He was floored by how happy he was. He didn't think it was possible to feel this proud.

_She is something, isn't she? Be gentle, she was born premature so she's rather delicate. Mom says that she'll grow out of that when she turns XJ-2 though. _

"Heh, yeah, the 'terrible XJ-2's', I'll bet." Sheldon laughed, looking forward to it anyway. He was looking forward to every moment he would get to share with his new daughter, even the bad ones. He could hardly wait to begin his new life, with his new family.

_It shouldn't be too long until your body is readu. Ready. Sorry, typo (Tuck just bumped my arm). _

Sheldon wasn't paying too much attention anymore, more interested in making funny faces for his daughter and getting her to smile for him. She reflexively grabbed hold of his fingertip when he moved in front of her face, showing excellent hand-eye coordination. And a strong grip, too. Delicate? Sheldon had trouble believing that!

_I gotta go for now hun. Tuck says there's something about a Cluster ship I need to go take care of. I'll be back later though. You two play nice now grin._

Before Sheldon had been worried about becoming trapped within his own mind for any length of time, but now he didn't think he'd mind at all. He welcomed as much time as he could have to spend with this marvelous little lady in his arms.

* * *

Standing from the computer Jenny minimized the window running the CAD program hooked up to Sheldon's mind. There had been very little supervillain activity in Tremorton in the weeks following Brit's attack. What there had been Jenny was able to take care of easily enough. The Muckraker was nothing compared to a new mother's diaper duties.

As Tuck led Jenny out to the street where the Cluster ship had touched down, Jenny smiled and continued to think about Sheldon and their daughter. She was very happy to have finally given Sheldon the chance to meet the baby, and for June to have her first meeting with her father. It was a terrible shame that Brit's attack had kept them apart for so long.

But then again, June had already repaid Brit for that.

It was long after the ordeal was done with that everyone found out exactly what had happened to Brit that day. It happened one day after Tiff had been released from the hospital and had started to get her strength back. Jenny was determined to make good on her promise to become better friends with Tiff, and had arranged a dinner with Brad to get them all together and socializing again.

After the dinner, Jenny had dropped the first bombshell of the evening by asking Tiff if she would be June's Godmother.

"Whut? Me?" Tiff had sputtered, completely perplexed. "But I don't even go ta church!"

"I'm not really concerned with June's religious education. Sheldon and I aren't very religious either; it's not something that's important to us. But I think you'd be a good… role model." Jenny explained, but could tell from Tiff's expression that she'd need to go into more detail.

"What I mean is, you've had some pretty tough times in your life. Some bad influences."

They didn't often refer to Brit by name anymore. It didn't seem polite, and brought up a lot of bad memories.

"But despite that you still turned out as you are today. I think that makes you very qualified. Plus, you helped deliver June, and I would like you to remain an important person in her life. And I know Brad agrees."

Tiff had shot Brad an accusing glare, declaring "You put th' idea in 'er head, didntcha?"

Trying to escape this new responsibility, Tiff blurted out "But, I wasn even any good at th' birthin'. When I wuz holdin' her it was unner a minute b'fore she'd already stuck that cyber-knife thang in her mouth."

"What did you say?" Jenny's mother had asked, this new information suddenly sparking a fresh connection in the mystery.

Tiff shrank, ashamed of her past blunder. "I's sorry, but it jus' proves that I ain't responsible enuff ta be tha Godmother. Who knows what kinda crap that baby might swallow when I'm watchin' her?"

Shortly after, Nora had run a test of the XJ-1's data cache against some backups that Mog had stored in his lab. It didn't take much to confirm it: Jenny's baby had downloaded the killswitch program into itself when it had "suckled" the delivery mechanism, instinctively taking in any sources of data it was presented with. The XJ-1's body was underdeveloped because of the early birth, and new schematic data such as the specs for the 'dagger' were quickly incorporated into the baby's still growing body. In this case, transforming June's tooth into a replica of the killswitch weapon's tip.

When she had bitten Brit a short while later, once again in the process of seeking out more data from her mother's breasts, the killswitch program was uploaded into Brit's cybernetics and went to work shutting them down.

Jenny washed the memory from her mind. She was happy that they eventually convinced Tiff to accept the position, but at the moment Jenny had to focus on super-hero business.

Tuck and Jenny stepped out into the street, where Nora, Brad, Mog and Tiff were already gathered. The Cluster, even with Vexus gone, always presented a potential threat. It was a good sign that the ship hadn't already started blasting building, but you never know…

The front hatch of the ship opened with a hiss, and extended a long metal ramp down to the street. When its occupant stepped out into the light, Jenny couldn't help but smile.

"Vega!" she called, rushing up the ramp to give her old friend a welcome hug.

"Hey Jenny!" Vega responded, wrapping her arms around Jenny to return the hug and give her a european-style kiss on each cheek.

Pulling away she looked Jenny over and commented "woah, I see you've been through some changes. But how are you? You never call, you never write…"

"I'm good. There's a lot to tell you, but to summarize: I'm doing very good" explained Jenny, leading Vega from her ship down to the street. "But what brings you to Earth? I know I already missed your sister's wedding."

"It is actually related to that, and the war back in the Cluster." Vega frowned, and waited until everyone was in earshot before she continued.

"I guess you probably know that the civil wars basically ended when Nexus took the throne by marrying YK-9. I've been overseeing the quashing of the last few minor warlords and their uprisings while King Kenneth cemented their rule by siring a legitimate heir. For the last couple of months it seemed like the last of the war was over, and everyone was awaiting the birth of Nexus' litter."

"Litter?" Jenny asked, lifting one eyebrow.

Nearby, Mog scratched his chin, muttering "must be a side effect of the canine portion of his programming…"

"Five pups altogether, three boys and two girls. Everyone was thrilled. The royal bloodline is healthy and thriving again!"

Vega's smile faded though, when she got to the bad news. "But then, out of nowhere, Brutus shows up again. Seems he went into hiding when his faction started losing the war, and met up with an old croney of my mothers, a scientist named Krakus."

"We've met," stated Jenny, motioning for Vega to continue.

"So, since he's got nothing to lose and everything to gain by unleashing some anarchy in the empire, Brutus had Krakus invent this contagious rust that infects robots and turns them into, like… zombies! Robot zombies that consume the metal from healthy robots to keep themselves going. They spread like a plague and now several planets are infected, including Cluster Prime, and the whole situation is out of control! I only barely escaped, but the rest of the royal family is still trapped on Cluster Prime and they need help!"

Well, it had been a nice vacation. But Jenny's duty would never truly leave her, and to be honest she was getting hungry for some decent superheroing again.

"Well don't worry Vega, I'll just say goodbye to my fiancée and daughter and we'll go save your planet right away."

"Actually…" Vega started, her tone showing her apprehension, "I came to Earth to ask _Brad_ for help…"

"_What?!_" exclaimed Brad and Jenny simultaneously.

Vega shrugged and explained, "Well, I know you're some sorta superhero around here, but on Cluster Prime you'd be just another victim of the rust-plague. But Brad… Brad saved the Earth from my mother's invasion, _and_ took her down again aboard her own flagship! That battle became the turning point in Nexus' rebellion, and he ended the succession wars by bringing YK-9 to the Cluster. Plus he'd be naturally immune to the plague, and the zombies wouldn't see him as a source of food, and—

"okay, okay, I get it." Jenny said, raising a hand to stop Vega from going on about Brad's many qualifications.

Meanwhile, Brad was looking pretty damned pleased with himself.

"Well Brad? Will you come with me and help save the Cluster?" Vega pleaded.

"Hmm, **I'm** the only hope to save a planet from a horde of **Robot Zombies** from **Space**? Lemme think about that…" Brad intoned sarcastically.

Obviously, it was a dream come true. Even saying it out loud sounded like the title of a drive in science fiction double feature. Vega, though, didn't seem to quite understand that the question was rhetorical.

"Well, not the only hope. The empire does have some other resources; we just thought that you would be the best option and that you'd probably want—

"I'll do it!" exclaimed Brad, cutting her off.

"Great!" Vega exclaimed happily. "My ship can take us back to Cluster Prime, where we can give you some of our technology to help you get to Brutus and the antidote."

"Wait, wait… this isn't just going to be a day trip, is it?" Brad began, his expression souring. "I can't just up and leave. I've got responsibilities here. People that care about me." With a gesture Brad indicated the others there, particularly Tiff and his little brother.

Tiff stepped forward, chiming in. "Actually… I could go wit ya, ya know."

"Don't look so s'prised. It's not like I got a while lot goin' for me round here.'Cept fr you, I mean." Tiff explained, and Jenny at least understood.

Without Brit around, Tiff no longer occupied a position of any great importance at school or around town, and Tiff's aunt and uncle were never very close with her anyway, a situation that had only gotten worse now that Brit wasn't around. Compared to that, an adventure in space probably sounded like a whole lot of fun.

But there was still one other factor to consider.

"Tuck, What do you say buddy?" asked Brad, crouching down next to Tuck. "Will you be okay if I go off to space for a little while?"

Tuck looked fearful, clearly not wanting his brother to go. Unlike the rather fearless Tiff, Tuck blanched at the slightest provocation. Screaming in terror was one of his strongest skills. He knew he couldn't just tag along like Tiff, he would just spend the entire trip getting rescued by Brad, maybe even ruining their chance at stopping the plague.

But he didn't want to be separated from his big brother either.

Brad was the only family that Tuck had left. He didn't want the Cluster to be consumed by some zombie horde, but he just couldn't bear being without Brad around.

"No, Brad, I won't…"

A gentle hand touched Tuck's back. Glancing over, Tuck saw it belonged to Mrs. Wakeman. She stood next to him, and next to her was Mog, holding Nora's hand. She said nothing, but her motherly smile made it clear to Tuck.

He couldn't be so selfish as to deny an entire planet their savior just so he could have his brother around to protect him. Tuck swallowed hard, and forced the words out of his mouth.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll be fine."

Brad smiled and nodded, accepting the answer. Tuck felt just a little more grown up.

* * *

Years later, Jenny looked back on that day as a major turning point in her life. In all their lives really.

She wouldn't have known it at the time though. The next day things had returned largely to normal, school to attend, villains to trounce, diapers to change. But the ramifications of Brad choosing to go into space were still being felt to this day.

Brad had been right when he guessed that the trip would not be a short one. The rust-zombie crisis was only the first of many, and by the end of it all Brad was regarded by the citizenry of the Cluster as a genuine super-hero, every bit as exotic and alien to them as Jenny was regarded on Earth.

He never did come back to get his high school diploma, but he didn't mind. Being personal friends with the King and Queen of the Cluster meant he had access to a fully-paid scholarship to any of several hundred top schools on a dozen different planets. Brad was a poor student, but he remained enrolled anyway, picking up new skills and knowledge by transferring from school to school, planet to planet.

And everywhere he went, Tiff followed, as evidenced by the latest letter Jenny had received.

"Thank goodness Tiff writes clearer then she talks." Jenny commented to herself, though her words were heard by another.

Bounding into the room came June, still wearing her soccer uniform from afternoon practice. Unlike her mother, Jenny had no problem with letting June out to socialize with other children. In fact, she had encouraged it ever since June turned XJ-5 and started learning how to relate to others. Jenny liked to think that this decision as a parent was largely responsible for June's present state of development.

Right now June was in her XJ-6 stage of growth, and rather then becoming hyper-envious as Jenny had been at that age, June was hyper-competitive. Hence, soccer practice. And debate team, and chess club, and gymnastics class and choir and all the other school clubs that June had signed herself up for. It still caused some problems, but less so then Jenny suspected she would be if June had been home schooled like Jenny was.

"Whatcha readin' mom?" June asked, grabbing a can of oil from the fridge to top off her fluid levels. Jenny winced a little as June spoke, her voice rising to a piercing squeak on the word "reading".

Pulling the rambunctious robot girl over to her, Jenny spoke "It's a letter from your Godmother. You want me to read it to you?"

June nodded enthusiastically, and Jenny continued, "Then settle down and open your mouth. I can hear your vocal synths are out of tune again. I'm gonna take a look, and try to realign them for you."

June sat on her mother's lap, forcing herself to behave while she bared her expensive orthodontics for inspection. It wasn't really clear to Jenny why June needed corrective implants to keep her naturally high voice from rising to glass-shattering pitches. It was less clear to her why the obtrusive braces that she had paid so much for broke down so frequently. But, her husband was the technical-minded one in the household, and he assured her that it was just a bug in June's design that would probably work itself out by the time she was an XJ-7.

"_Dear Jenny,_" Jenny began to recite the letter, while simultaneously extending a screwdriver head from her fingertip to try to tighten June's braces with.

"_Spring is here on Cluster-4 where Brad and I are staying. We're both doing well, and enjoying the diverse scenery and population of this world. Unlike most Cluster controlled planets, Cluster-4 has a sizable non-robotic population that started to immigrate here after the fall of Vexus. Which is nice, because it allows Brad and me to occasionally blend into the crowd when we want to, even though the other aliens here don't much resemble humans. _

"_I'm taking a class in experimental culinary techniques, while Brad is taking some philosophy and cultural studies stuff, as well as training at Misty's dojo as usual. It's light in terms of homework, but after saving the whole Cluster Empire last semester Brad and I both need a bit of a break (who would have thought that little Killgore would become such a huge threat? I still can hardly believe it.)_"

"Who's Killgore, mom?" June squeaked, the movement of her mouth frustrating Jenny's repair attempt.

Holding June's mouth in place, Jenny answered "A story for some other time. Now keep still Juniper."

"_Speaking of breaks, I hope you're still planning to come out to visit us for the royal birthday celebration on Cluster Prime. If Brad and I are going to attend, then their Aunt Jenny should definitely be there! Since it's the birthday of all five siblings rolled into one, the whole planet is getting pretty riled up for the celebration. Plus (in case it needed to be said) we want to see our Godchild again! Tell June and Sheldon we miss them, and I hope to see you soon._

_-Tiffany Carbunkle_"

"There, all done." Jenny said, allowing June's mouth to close.

She and Sheldon were still intending to go to Cluster Prime, though the birthday celebration was just a convenient excuse for the trip. Really, Jenny wasn't all that close with Kenny and thought of him more as a step-brother then a real sibling, since they had grown up apart and didn't have a whole lot of time to bond before Kenny moved away from Earth.

But it would be good to go and see Brad again; he and Tiff were fun to double-date with and talk about their newly married situation. Jenny also always made time to drop in on Misty, spending some girl-bonding-time with her brought back a small taste of the single life.

Clearly tickled pink by the news that she would get to go on a trip to see Cluster Prime and her step-cousins again, June nevertheless complained.

"But there's still more letter you didn't read!"

Jenny gave her daughter a wry smile, and held the letter out of her daughter's reach. "Well, there is some postscript to it, but I don't think you want to hear what's in that."

June looked up at Jenny with her big, round eyes.

Oh, great, the puppy-dog look. Tuck had taught this trick to June when she was an XJ-5, and Jenny had been paying for it ever since.

"Pleeeeeaaassssseeee?" June begged, knowing that she would get her way if she kept it up long enough. With a knowing sigh, Jenny caved and continued reading.

"_P.S. Just between us girls, you might want to keep an eye on June when she's here. During her last visit I noticed some signs that made me think June might have a crush on Prince Canis. From the way Canis talks, I think the crush might be mutual. Which, you know, is adorable and all, but he is still a prince and his parents could be embarrassed if the paparazzi catches their son peeking up a certain young girl's skirt or smooching in the palace garden. I wouldn't normally be worried about Canis, except that I know June is the sort of girl that is liable to __**encourage**__ that sort of behavior. So, you know, just keep her on a short leash._"

"Well, are you happy now?" Jenny asked, while June blushed furiously and hid her face against her mother's dress.

"No." June stated flatly, wanting to sink into a hole and die.

The whole situation amused Jenny quite a bit. Though it had taken her some time to accept it, Nora had been right in that familial relationships between robots really _were_ different from humans. So the whole 'kissing cousins' situation didn't bother Jenny as much as it would have otherwise. Even if Nora hadn't been right, Kenny and his kids were from the YK series of robots, and so had a sufficiently different design lineage that there wouldn't be any concerns with inbreeding anyway. Not to mention that the royal litter were all half-Cluster, as well.

Peeking one eye open, June looked up at her mother and asked "Aren't you doing that thing today? The operation?"

It wasn't hard to see that June was simply trying to change the topic to something less embarrassing for her, but Jenny didn't mind. "Yep, that's today. I've just been getting through all the little errands I had to run in case I forgot about them after words."

The operation Jenny was referring to was the upgrade to XJ-10, but for real this time. It had taken a long time, but after six years the new body was ready, and so was Jenny.

No one could say she was rushing into this. In fact, with a total of eleven years as an XJ-9, Jenny had spent more time as a teenager then any human had. And even after the body was ready, Jenny had put it off until she was finished with college.

But nowadays Jenny was starting to look rather diminutive compared to her human friends, and often she would still get carded when going out when everyone else wasn't given a second look. Jenny had her degrees, her happy domestic life and was getting ready to enter the working world… the adult world…

Jenny knew it was finally time to trade up and move on.

She would have liked to feel nostalgic or sit around looking at her photo albums for a while longer, remembering her teenage years, but really Jenny just found herself too excited to put it off any longer.

Scooting off Jenny's lap, June took off to go do her homework or play or otherwise occupy herself. Similarly, Jenny decided it was time she got up and went to see Sheldon in his lab.

Since Mrs. Wakeman had retired, it hadn't taken long for Sheldon to rise to the position she had formerly held as top robotics authority on Earth. Technically he had not finished his doctorate yet, but most everybody took to calling him "Doc" Lee anyway.

Everyone except Jenny of course.

To her he would always be Sheldon (though that didn't stop her from calling him Shel, or Shell-head, or any of the other many nicknames she had for him). With the many research grants and scholarships Sheldon had, it was no big deal for him to have equipped his own private machine lab in their garage. If she'd wanted to Jenny could have easily been a homemaker, or devote herself to superheroing full time, trusting that Sheldon's income would have been more then enough to support the family. But her career was important to her. Let no one say that the modern robotic woman, properly fueled, couldn't balance her career with her home life.

"We're just about ready to go," said Sheldon as he arranged some tools from around the lab, the XJ-10 body already powered up and waiting for Jenny's brain to inhabit it.

Jenny watched him bustle about, dressed in a lab coat and puffing away at his pipe. It wasn't really a tobacco pipe, of course; a robot wouldn't have derived any pleasure from inhaling nicotine. Sheldon had merely fashioned a fuel-burning device into the likeness of a pipe, as part of an effort to appear more scholarly and fatherlike. Sheldon's idea of fatherhood seemed to originate in the 1930's.

Nevertheless, the chemical process was more akin to eating than smoking, and the exhaust had no effects on herself or June, so Jenny didn't mind.

Jenny closed her eyes and relaxed, preparing herself to shut down so Sheldon could get to work. The body-swapping process was a lot less daunting to her then it was for Sheldon. Which shouldn't surprise anyone. Both times it had been a pretty traumatic experience for Sheldon, who nearly lost his life on each occasion. For Jenny, on the other hand, it was so old hat that she didn't even remember living in her younger bodies. Like getting a haircut, it had just become a forgettable experience.

Despite her calm, a sudden crash still made her bolt upright from the table.

"Sorry mom!" came June's call from somewhere outside, in the backyard. On the lab floor laid June's baseball, surrounded by the shattered glass of the garage window.

"Oh, I'll get that," muttered Sheldon as he hurried over to clean up the mess. "We'll have to talk to June about being more careful with her sports equipment."

"It's okay Sheldon, accidents happen" said Jenny, unusually calm about the broken window. Somehow it seemed like… a good omen.

Just like so many years back, the baseball breaking the window was like the bottle broken against a ship's hull before a long voyage. It had given her good luck back then, and Jenny had a feeling it would give her good luck now, too. She felt she might need it. It was, after all, a big wide world out there, and Jenny couldn't wait to go out and meet it.

**The End**


End file.
